Chandigarh: Union minister of state and Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh on Wednesday met Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini and sought accountability from officials over recurring waterlogging and garbage accumulation in Gurgaon, questioning why their pre-monsoon assurances had failed.Rao visited Saini’s residence in Chandigarh and raised the city’s drainage and sanitation problems. He told the CM that officials had repeatedly assured him before the monsoon that Gurgaon would not face waterlogging this year. “Officials should be summoned and asked why their claims failed,” Rao told Saini, according to a statement from his office.He also raised garbage accumulation amid the ongoing sanitation workers’ strike, saying heaps of waste had accumulated at several locations and rainwater was causing it to decompose, worsening the civic crisis.Rao said he had repeatedly raised concerns over construction around natural drains, alleging that builders had encroached upon natural rainwater channels despite directions to officials to remove such encroachments.He sought an impartial survey of Gurgaon’s centuries-old natural drainage routes. “After mapping the original watercourses, strict action should be taken against encroachments obstructing the natural flow,” he told the CM.Rao also proposed an underground solution to both flooding and water conservation. “If Metro trains can be operated underground, why can rainwater not be diverted through underground pipelines?” he asked, suggesting that excess water be taken to artificial lakes and areas around the Najafgarh drain, Sultanpur and Damdama lake for storage and groundwater recharge.With groundwater levels declining, Rao called for a comprehensive rainwater harvesting and storage plan and closer coordination among the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon, GMDA, HSVP and other agencies.Saini assured Rao that his concerns would be considered while preparing a plan to tackle Gurgaon’s waterlogging, drainage and garbage-management problems.
