I live in a colony called the National Media Centre in Gurgaon. It is one of the oldest housing societies in Gurgaon….well before the path of supposed progress made its way here with glass fronted buildings and unruly traffic increasing in direct proportion to basic amenities such as water, electricity and roads decreasing.
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A veritable oasis in the desert, the NMC is located on the NH 8. A brief drive inwards leads to the actual houses. The area between the main road and the houses was originally ear-marked as a green belt, but given to the Society to maintain. This by the Government in power at the time. This green cover (the Society planted and maintained trees) and its design and layout helped the colony maintain its peace and quaint character despite all the chaos around us i.e. unfettered construction of commercial buildings around us. Not for long though.
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The first blow was our water table diminishing leading to water problems as we had these huge monstrosities all around us soaking up the water and leaving us little. Over time as the number of people travelling to Gurgaon increased, so did the traffic leading to choked roads. They thought that the Delhi Metro connectivity would ease things but no not really. Then the government and a big bully of a builder decided to build a Rapid Metro-which would connect people to the main Metro. Sounds terrific I know. But you remember the area for the green belt? They encroached upon it with no permission and as bullies and cowards will….in the dark of the night.
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So we managed to stop them from felling some trees, but their construction went on anyway and the matter is in court. Chugging along in this fashion, the Rapid Metro is due to be commissioned soon and a plan for widening roads came into being. Ostensibly to ease the traffic jams. That green belt was to now become grey. Again the matter is in court. And again, one morning, when we slept, like true thugs and bullies with not an iota of ethics or conscience, they broke our ENTIRE boundary wall and large equipment was parked on that green belt. A matter of time before the beautiful old trees are massacred.
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If you are wondering why all this is SUCH an issue….firstly If it was all above board and legal….this could have been done in an organised way and in daylight, with notice. Not by skulking. Secondly, down the road from us is a hulking mall. Initially the area where the mall is, was a huge water body and the housing there was sold with the USP of a lake facing the houses. Now, that lake is a 7 storey mall and the traffic getting into and out of that mall causes a large part of the jam and blockage. Clearing a mall construction there is SO clearly a commercial decision.
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Do not please for a moment think that we as a colony are hankering for that land for any vested interests. It HAS been maintained as the green belt. But yes- I protest against this blatant and sickening display of money bought power. It troubles me that money is all that matters and people will go to any lengths to achieve their ends. It angers me that perhaps I have no choice but to stand back and let injustice happen. It saddens me that this is happening with the support of a government I have elected.
A longer version of this story was earlier carried in Rachna’s blog http://needstotalk.wordpress.com/page/2/
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Rachna Tiwari is a hospitality professional, residing in Gurgaon and working in New Delhi. She hails from a services background and has lead a nomadic life in her formative years. Her interests include reading, movies and writing a blog about pretty much anything which catches her fancy!