One of India’s smart and up-street cities is virtually under water. Car owners driving from Delhi to Gurgaon were literally caught between a rock and a hard place. Heavy
rains, improper drainage, destruction of a near-perfect system of canals by the British and a casual approach to city planning conspired to give Gurgaon the shock treatment. Touted as a city ahead of its time in the Indian context, and populated by the super-rich, Gurgaon came to a grinding halt. Right now the Haryana and Delhi governments are blaming each other for the turn of events. The geography of the area does not help the
city, which is situated at a lower level and makes it a natural sink for water from Delhi. This was made worse by a decision to concretise drains, so water which took three or four hours
to reach Gurgaon from Delhi came down faster than expected.
Gurgaon’s experience is no different from what Chennai
underwent in November-December last year. The reasons are
also the same “ development overtaking commonsense and
infrastructure. When natural ponds and waterways are filled
to create more space to erect buildings floods happen. As long
as there is low rainfall the system copes, but one hour of heavy
rain and it comes apart. It would seem, India never learns from
bad experiences.
