Over 20,000 new builder-floors in five years in Gurugram, puts infra under strain

GURUGRAM: In the 1990s, when most of the city’s licensed colonies were being developed, the basic infrastructure — road, electricity, water and sewerage — was built keeping in mind the construction of two and a half floors on each residential plot. Over three decades later, the population has doubled, and the number of floors allowed on a residential plot was four till February this year, when the state government put approval of fourth floors on hold after wide-scale protests by residents’ groups. The infrastructure, however, has remained unchanged. Since 2017, when the Haryana government allowed construction of stilt plus four floors, more than 20,000 floors have been constructed across residential colonies in the city — according to a rough
estimate, around 5,000 buildings with four floors were granted occupation certificates (OCs) in DLF
areas, Sushant Lok 1, Vipul World and other licensed colonies in last five years.

But civic amenities like width of drainage and sewer lines, capacity of underground water tanks and electricity distribution networks, among others, have not been upgraded since the colonies were first developed. Even after chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced the takeover of most of these colonies, including DLF areas, by the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) in 2016 and 2017, not much work has been done to augment infrastructure.
Despite this, as soon as the state government approved the fourth floor policy, hundreds of residential properties across the city were converted into four floor buildings while residents questioned how the
infrastructure could sustain almost double the load.

DLF 1, one of the city’s oldest licensed colonies and also the costliest as far as residential floor prices are
concerned, is grappling with water supply problems, as the pipelines haven’t been replaced since they
were first laid. Similarly, residents of Sushant Lok 2 and 3, Ardee City, Malibu Towne and Mayfield
Garden too are facing civic issues such as broken roads, overflowing and blocked sewer lines and poor
power infrastructure.
Residents were protesting against deficient infrastructure even before the fourth floor policy came into
effect. According to them, the existing infrastructure is insufficient to meet the demands of the current
population and will collapse if the state government allows four floors as independent dwelling units.
Deepak Pasricha, a Palam Vihar resident, said residents have spent a lifetime’s savings to build homes,
but they were not even consulted before such an important announcement was made. “Only small-time
builders benefited from the move, leaving us to face the repercussions of poor infrastructure,” he said.

Colonies have been witnessing sudden and frequent power outages due to overloaded transformers that
can’t cope with the rising demand, especially in peak summer, apart from shortage of water. “We are at
the mercy of the private tanker mafia for water supply. Moreover, our electrical appliances are damaged
due to low or fluctuating voltage and frequent power cuts,” said Praveen Yadav, president of Ardee City
RWA.
Shiv Rai, who lives in Sushant Lok, said the construction of additional floors in his colony is also causing
air pollution, as most of the plot owners are demolishing old buildings to build four floors and profit
through floor-wise sales.
Meanwhile, MCG hasn’t utilised around Rs 100 crore which it has received from the department of town
and country planning (DTCP) in the form of fees collected from property owners against the increased
floor area ratio (FAR), residents claimed. The funds, as per the norms, should have been used for
infrastructure augmentation.
In 2016, the state government had increased the FAR allowing change of land use for residential purposes
under the Haryana Building Code, 2016. The building code provides that additional FAR is allowed on
the payment of charges as approved by the government from time to time.
MCG claimed the funds have been used for civic work. “MCG has been undertaking infrastructure
development work in colonies as per requirement and demand, irrespective of us getting EDC and IDC
from the department. We are working for the public and have already spent more than what we have got
as EDC and IDC for development work,” commissioner PC Meena told TOI. DTCP has maintained that
the policy will help meet the demand for housing.
“The changes in the building code were made as per law and after receiving representations from the
public. The changes will allow meeting the growing housing demand in the city,” said a senior DTCP
official.
Deputy commissioner Nishant Yadav said, “The authorities are continuously working to improve
infrastructure. It is the government’s focus to provide sufficient infrastructure to support civic amenities.”
In May 2021, a city-based people’s group — Gurgaon Citizen’s Council — moved the Punjab and
Haryana high court against DTCP for making changes in its policy to allow the construction of fourth
floors and their registration as independent dwelling units. The policy was changed without augmentation
of the civic infrastructure, which will increase the density of population in an area as well as put stress on
the already crumbling civic infrastructure of the city, the petition claimed.
On January 10 this year, the Supreme Court banned construction of floor-wise apartments on residential
plots in Chandigarh. The apex court was hearing a petition filed by the RWA of Chandigarh Sector 15 in
2016 seeking an order banning construction of flats on residential plots.
Following this, RWAs in Panchkula demanded a similar ban. It soon turned into a state-wide campaign.
Gurgaon residents wrote to chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar asking him to stop registration of fourth
floors until the infrastructure is upgraded. In the name of helping residents, this was an unethical step by the state government to promote small-time builders and brokers, with total disregard for the already poor and deficient infrastructure of plotted colonies in the city, the residents alleged. On February 23, the state announced that the policy would be kept in abeyance till further orders. The CM

also constituted a committee with HSPCB chairman P Raghavendra Rao as its chairperson, and former DTCP chief town planner Dilbagh Singh Sihag, HSIIDC chief town planner Dinesh Chauhan and HSVP and DTCP senior town planner Vijendra Rana as members. The panel was asked to examine the issue and
submit recommendations, based on which a decision would be taken. The committee has taken suggestions and feedback from residents.