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Journalism of Courage
This narrow, two-lane road is bumpy and cracked in places. Buildings line both sides. By afternoon, it is choked with e-rickshaws and trucks, leaving no space for parking.
This is not the entry to an unauthorised colony. Cyber Hub is just 4 km away, and Ambience Mall is 6 km from here. Yet, the road paints a story of neglect and prolonged litigation, one in which residents of the area have been unwilling main characters.
For four decades, residents of Gurgaon’s Sector 21 have been fighting for a proper direct entry road to their sector. In its absence, they have been forced to rely on this narrow, 8-metre-wide stretch for their daily commute — the main route to travel to and from the city and towards Delhi.
“It is a violation of our fundamental rights,” said Kundan Lal Sharma, General Secretary of the Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA), Sector 21.
Developed by the then Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) — now Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) — Sector 21 houses at least 1,250 units where civil servants, industrialists, and retirees live.
Sharma said the issue dates back to the 1980s when HUDA acquired land for the sector’s access road. “As per the original plans for the sector, land for a 24-metre wide approach road was identified and marked, but it spanned disputed properties where encroachers built pucca houses and buildings.”
“Legal challenges followed, culminating in a 2014 Punjab & Haryana High Court ruling in Bharat Singh & Others vs State of Haryana. The court upheld the acquisition but allowed the release of built-up structures, except for land critical to public utilities like roads and drainage,” he added.
When The Indian Express visited the site, residents were seen using the narrow road to enter the sector. After navigating 80 metres of the cramped stretch, it led to a non-litigious section of the 24-metre road and into the homes of Sector 21.
In this area, the roads were wide and cars could be parked on either side. Plot sizes ranged from 220 to 1,000 square yards. Currently, a 200 sq. yard house costs over Rs 5 crore, a 500 sq. yard property is priced around Rs 11 crore, and 1,000 sq. yard plots exceed Rs 18 crore.
“Secretaries, Additional Secretaries, Armed Forces veterans including Lt. General or equivalent rank, factory owners, entrepreneurs, and senior professionals live here,” said Sharma.
Residents said there is another route through Sector 22/22A — a 30-metre-wide stretch. But they said exiting through the Sector 22 side and heading towards the city is time consuming during peak hours.
“It is not possible to use that stretch for commuting at peak hours as the road is not only overcrowded but also potholed. If we have to take that road, it will add at least 30 more minutes to our commute,” said Sharma and other RWA members.
Highlighting how the lack of an access road impacts daily lives, RWA President Prakash Lamba, a businessman, said, “Emergency vehicles, including ambulances, face delays navigating circuitous routes. A direct road is a basic right.”
He pointed to a recent case in which the body of a deceased resident could not be moved for an hour as the entry lane was congested and choked with trucks.
According to the RWA, the main reason why the limbo over the approach road continued even after the 2014 order was because the Haryana government has moved the SC against it, insisting on the acquisition of even the built-up structures.
Residents also claimed that open plots in the sector — some created as a result of demolition drives by the HSVP — have become dumping grounds for construction and demolition waste.
“At night, these become hotspots for gambling, drinking, drug use, and other illicit activities,” a resident alleged.
Apart from the lack of an access road, residents’ woes were exacerbated by a waterlogged, sludge-filled lane — mixed with sewage — that ran along the boundary wall of several swanky glass buildings within a nearby Special Economic Zone (SEZ) office space .
“Our complaints to the civic body have gone unheard. Officials even visited the site a few weeks ago. What you see is sewage discharged by the offices,” Sharma alleged, pointing to the brownish-green sludge through which a stray dog waded.
When contacted, an HSVP official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the situation regarding the (approach) road would be rectified after a site visit.
On Sunday, Sharma told The Indian Express that the RWA had met MCG officials last Friday and a site visit took place. “Clear directions were issued to mitigate the serious concerns raised. Officials said estimates for the construction of a footpath and cement concrete road in Sector 21 will be prepared expeditiously… They said the accumulated sludge and water will be drained out,” he said.
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