One year of Khattar 2.0: Pollution, public transport worries remain

GURUGRAM: The Khattar 2.0 government completed its first year in office on Tuesday, at a time when the world is reeling under an unprecedented Covid crisis. But the Millennium City that aspires to match cosmopolitan cities across the world in infrastructure and generates the maximum revenue for Haryana has not yet witnessed the proportionate amount of development.
Gurugram is home to over 300 Fortune500 companies.But the city still lacks a comprehensive mobility plan, which is holding up its two metro corridor projects. The limited city bus service hasn’t been able to address the problem of last-mile connectivity. Moreover, residents continue to struggle for basic amenities such as ambient air, sewerage and medical facilities. The shifting of the Kherki Daula toll plaza too remains in the pipeline.

While the opposition slams the Khattar government for failing to meet its first-term’s commitment, the ruling BJP claims the city’s development continues despite the pandemic. Well, during these eight months of Covid, Gurugram hogged limelight for land registry scam and lack of its preparedness in tackling monsoon flooding, though it saw widening of roads from Basai to Hero Honda Chowk.
Pollution
Six years on, the Khattar government has still not been able to prepare a blueprint to tackle pollution. Despite announcing several measures like planting more trees, protecting the Aravalis, reviving water bodies and introducing a cash reward of Rs 1,000 for giving information about stubble burning, pollution levels are worsening with each passing year. And this year, there are fears the Covid figures could rise due to bad air.
Activists also allege that the government has failed to protect the Badshapur drain by allowing realty projects around the Ghata bundh, a British-era structure that aided the conservation of rainwater and improved the city’s water table. “If the Aravalis stays, there will be groundwater in Gurugram and Faridabad,” says Vivek Kamboj, the founder of Hariali.
Health
Gurugram residents are still waiting for world-class government health infrastructure. During the pandemic, the government indeed improved facilities at state-run hospitals, but much more needs to be done on the health sector being tackled by private hospitals. Also, the proposed medical college at Kherki Majra in Sector-102 is still entangled in legal hurdles.
Transport
Gurugram has not been able to provide a dependable network of safe and convenient mode of public transport for thousands of office-goers and residents. While the Rapid Metro remains widely underutilised, the city bus service has not been able to solve the problem of last-mile commuting due to its limited routes — only 68 buses ply after two years of its operation.
Moreover, the city’s ambitious Gurugram metro and Gurugram-Faridabad metro projects may get delayed in absence of a mandatory comprehensive mobility plan.
“It was Congress which brought Gurugram on to the global map and development has absolutely stopped under the BJP,” says former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
However, BJP state spokesperson Raman Malik claims that “a new mobility plan for the entire city is under consideration and the GMDA is playing a crucial role in developing it”. “Metro will be extended to the old city and the Rapid Rail project will reshape the city’s transport system.”