Gurugram: Residents of Ardee City struggling for water, blame MCG

Gurugram: The residents of Ardee City, Sector-52, a residential society in Gurugram have been facing an acute water crisis for two weeks. As alleged by the resdients, after Municipal Corporation Gurugram (MCG) took over the society on June 15, 2022, the water supply has been severely compromised. Resident Welfare Society (RWA) along with residents holds the MCG and government responsible for the crisis.

On June 15, 2022, the Ardee City came under the governance of MCG. Since then, administratively, MCG has the sole responsibility for the proper maintenance of the society. Says Chaitali Mandhotra, spokesperson of the RWA, "After we had a fallout with the builder the RWA had taken over the general maintenance work of the society in 2018. When MCG took over the the administration of the society on June 15, 2022 we were hoping that things would get better. But regretably the things have taken a turn for the worse. Since June 15, we have been facing an acute water shortage."
The residents allege that MCG does not understand the gravity of this issue. They blame the MCG for their careless and negligent behaviour regarding the problem of water shortage.

According to residents, the insufficient water supply started soon after MCG took over on June 15, 2022. A few water pumps in the society suddenly stopped working and the problem of water shortage inflicted a section of the society. Ardee City accommodates around 12,000 people, out of which, today around 500 people are facing water crisis. In order to bring this issue to light, RWA, on behalf of all the residents, wrote letters to MCG and Chief Minister of Haryana demanding a constant water supply. Instead of investigating the cause of the problem and suggesting a solution, MCG promised to provide free tanker service in Ardee City till the problem is solved.

The residents stated while complaining about the water tankers that the water provided by MCG is filthy and not suitable for drinking purposes. They have to clean the water themselves before using it. The society receives only a couple of such tankers in a day. One or two tankers in a day are not sufficient for 500 people.

Chaitali explained that one residential water tank takes about one hour to be filled. So, in a day, only 10-15 houses get water that is not even clean. Rest of the residents have to contact the private water tanker suppliers. This way, these suppliers get a chance to make profit out of people's misery by charging extra for water because they are aware of the helplessness of residents. The price of water tankers has been increased by almost 800 INR, from 1200 INR to 2000 INR, by the same supplier in the last two weeks.

RWA along with the residents has been trying every possible way to get the MCG and the government to resolve the issue. RWA also took it to twitter to reach out to the authorities concerned. They even attempted to protest by marching to the MCG office. In response, the Joint Commissioner of MCG along with the Chief Engineer visited the Ardee City to meet with residents and RWA. However, no sign of betterment is visible in the situation.

The residents and RWA claim that water supply had never been a problem in Ardee City before MCG took the charge. Only after MCG came into power on June 15, 2022 the residents of Ardee City started facing the problem of water shortage. They mentioned how they celebrated when the authority of society went into the hands of MCG because the builder of Ardee City had always been inefficient to shoulder his responsibilities. But now it seems that celebration was too soon.