Every monsoon, Gurugram — India’s Millennium City — resembles a shallow lake. Roads disappear. Cars float. Offices shut. And within 24 hours, the water recedes, leaving behind a residue of collective frustration and a mounting sense of déjà vu.
The root causes are not mysterious. Gurugram was built on a floodplain. The natural drainage channels — called nalas — that once carried monsoon water to the Aravalli and beyond have been systematically encroached upon, built over, and blocked. The very success that attracted 250+ Fortune 500 companies also brought 3 million people and a construction boom that forgot to leave room for water.
Three things need to happen urgently: the nalas must be desilted and cleared of encroachments before every monsoon; new construction must mandatorily maintain minimum setbacks from natural drainage paths; and every housing society above 5,000 square metres must have functional rainwater harvesting. This is not complicated. What it requires is political will — and citizen pressure.