Green Gurgaon

Little being done to realize this dream | Dainik Jagran, City Plus, Gurgaon, Saturday, September 26, 2009

Every time the election comes up there is the talk of making Gurgaon a greener city. What happens afterwards is anyone’s guess. It is almost a month since HUDA directed its horticulture department to beautify at least one park in the newly developed HUDA sectors of the city and ensure proper maintenance of the parks in the already develop sectors. But nothing has been done in the developed sectors and residents are still waiting for work to be started.

In some sectors RWAs, NGOs and individuals are making the effort to maintain greenery. Many organizations are also organizing runs to spread the message of planting trees and saving the environment.

Vivek Kamboj, founder of Haryali, an NGO working with a motive of saving trees to save humanity says, “If we consider the population of the city each person should plant 20 trees to ensure ecological balance. HUDA sectors need to do the most about the maintenance of parks. Greenery in the city will also help in solving problems like water shortage, power supply etc. Moreover people today are more concerned about the parking space rather than the parks. They are cutting trees to have parking space.”

Gurgaon has more than 150 parks and only a dozen of them are well maintained. Private developers are taking good care of parks in their residential sectors and residents are quite happy about that. “The park in our block is adopted by the City Club and is well maintained. We are happy because we need not fight with the RAWs or anybody else to facilitate us with proper parks. They are in good condition, “says a resident of M Block, DLF II.

HUDA has deployed four gardeners for parks in each sector and Nagar Nigam has deployed one gardener for five parks in their area but they do not show up.The green belt in front of HUDA administrator’s residence is also filled with the muck of sewage water. “There is no greenery in our sector and the parks are in a pitiable condition. Residents always complain to concerned authorities but still nothing is done.Some of the parks do not have fencing and some have broken swings. There is only one park which is in proper condition, “says Anita Narang, Councilor from Sector 15.