Gurgaon: Growth Without Governance

The Dream of Owning a Home in Gurgaon

Buying a house in the National Capital Region (NCR), more so in Gurgaon, is a dream for the large number of people who have come here from different parts of the country chasing better opportunities and a good life. Most spend huge sums, made up of enormous housing loans and their life savings, to realise their dream of owning a home in the so-called millennium city.

For many, however, buying the house is only the beginning of a long struggle — one that continues until they either get used to the system or abandon the dream altogether and head back to where they came from.

Builders Who Sell Dreams but Deliver Misery

The struggle starts with the builders, masters at selling dreams on paper but equally adept at short-changing innocent buyers from day one after receiving the first payment. Delayed delivery — and in some cases no delivery at all — poor quality construction, incomplete infrastructure, lack of access roads, and sometimes even absence of water and electricity are problems routinely created by builders and suffered by EMI-paying buyers.

The Bureaucratic Shield Around Builders

The cheating builder does not operate alone. He is fully supported by the very government departments that are supposed to protect the interests of citizens. Lax building rules favouring builders, tardy supervision and a deaf ear to public complaints have become the bureaucratic way of supporting their real estate cronies. If this were not the case, why would thousands of societies in Gurgaon continue to struggle with poor access roads, power cuts, water shortages and other infrastructure failures?

Some bureaucrats take their loyalty to real estate tycoons to absurd levels, ignoring even serious violations such as non-functional sewage treatment plants and discharge of sewage into the city’s storm drains.

Political Patronage and the Real Estate Nexus

The politician is not far behind in befriending the builder. Almost every major real estate company is either owned by, backed by, or connected to politicians and their relatives, thus ensuring political protection whenever required.

This builder-bureaucratic-political nexus survives under the nose of an ineffective judiciary, a toothless Real Estate Regulatory Authority and an equally ineffective National Green Tribunal — institutions that often appear more interested in passing unrealistic orders than ensuring implementation. Together, they have left the innocent buyer at the mercy of land sharks who sell dreams but deliver nightmares.

Luxury Prices, Third-Rate Infrastructure

The cost of a two-bedroom flat on the Dwarka Expressway — now an emerging real estate hub of Gurgaon — is close to two crore rupees, far higher than the retirement benefits of a retiring General of the Indian Army. Residential plots cost anywhere between five and twenty crores. What does one get in return? Anxiety, frustration and endless civic problems.

My personal experience has been deeply disappointing after I jointly bought a residential plot with three others in “The Westerlies,” a colony developed by an FDI-funded developer from Singapore.

It is astonishing how quickly so-called world-class facility management companies adapt to local dysfunction. The sewage treatment plant in “The Westerlies” does not function, and sewage is discharged into storm drains — something that, in my opinion, amounts almost to a criminal offence. Security and electricity are all unreliable. For reasons best known to either the builder or the authorities, a small stretch of road, barely fifty metres long, remains unconstructed. Hawkers and stall owners have encroached upon another road, giving it the appearance of a fish market.

But then, who am I to complain when even residents of elite societies like Arelias and Magnolias quietly suffer similar problems?

Government Failure and Administrative Decay

Government agencies not only shield corrupt builders but often add to the misery of citizens. They do so because they are corrupt, inefficient, demoralised or simply overwhelmed by the scale of the situation, rendering them ineffective. I am not suggesting that every government employee falls into this category, but unfortunately a majority appear unable or unwilling to deliver.

Are Citizens Equally Responsible?

Yet, while complaining about the system we find ourselves trapped in, I often ask a difficult question: do we as citizens deserve anything better?

We break rules at will. We encroach, litter, overspeed, evade taxes and practise caste and community-based discrimination. Residents Welfare Associations formed by us have themselves become dens of corruption, power struggles and petty politics. If we cannot honestly and efficiently manage a housing society of a thousand flats, how do we expect a municipal commissioner to govern a chaotic megapolis like Gurgaon filled with rule-breakers like us? Again, not everyone is like this, but a majority certainly are.

Gurgaon as a Reflection of India

My chosen home, Gurgaon, is ultimately nothing more than a reflection of what India itself has become — overpopulated, poorly regulated and increasingly driven by self-interest above all else. Changing this will require not merely better laws or better infrastructure, but a deep psychological shift in society — something that, at least for now, very few seem willing to undertake.