AAP, NGO plant paddy on waterlogged streets in protest

GURUGRAM: In a unique protest, two groups — a political party and an NGO — on Saturday embarked on a mock paddy plantation drive in the city’s waterlogged areas to draw the attention of the authorities to the pitiable condition of Gurugram’s

infrastructure

in the aftermath of the monsoon rains on Thursday and Friday.

One of the protesting groups was Aam Admi Party’s district unit. “If the agencies cannot control the waterlogging in the city, they should resort to planting paddy, at least that will earn them some revenue,” said the party’s state media coordinator, Sudhir Yadav, who led the mock plantation drive.

Yadav said Gurugram only has the tag of ‘cyber city’, but it always struggle to cope up with the basic requirements of electricity, water, road and public transport system.

“All the governments have been interested in making more and more revenue from Gurugram by collecting tax. No political party ever took an honest initiative to make Gurugram a

global city

,” he said, asking the civic agencies — MCG and GMDA — if they have any master plan for Gurugram’s development. In another upscale area of the city, Golf Course Road, a residents’ NGO called Nav Jan Chetna Manch, also attempted a mock plantation of the paddy sapplings.

“This is the most upscale address of the city and yet there is 3.5 feet of water on the roads and hour-long traffic jams. If this is the state of the Golf Course Road, one can only imagine what the state of affairs in old Gurugram is,” said Vashishtha Goyal of Nav Jan Chetna Manch. Several people also joined the group during their mock show to protest the lack of upkeep of infrastructure in the city.

Krishan Yadav, a resident of South City-1, said, “While the government is busy making tall claims, Golf Course Road was entirely choked by rainwater. This government has been misusing funds in the name of development. The sewage system has not been properly developed and the infrastructure has not been tested for such situations.”