Haryana Human Rights Commission turns lens on Gurugram waterlogging

The Haryana Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognisance of the repeated waterlogging that afflicts Gurugram, holding that a city of its scale needs civic infrastructure that is resilient, properly planned and effectively maintained.

In a 17-page order, the three-member panel headed by Chairperson Lalit Batra asked a range of agencies to file a conjoint compliance report. It also proposed a set of corrective steps, among them a comprehensive infrastructure audit, an integrated plan for overhauling urban drainage and civic infrastructure, mapping of natural drains and encroachments, safeguards for schoolchildren and an emergency mobility plan.

The Commission's intervention followed media accounts of widespread waterlogging across the city after heavy rain last month, and the hardship this caused residents, especially schoolchildren. It said the issue carried a significant constitutional and civic planning dimension.

Invoking Articles 21, 47 and 48A of the Constitution, the panel observed that adequate drainage and sanitation are essential civic requirements, and that shortcomings in these areas can harm public health, hygiene and dignified living conditions.

Gurugram's drainage troubles, it said, call for an integrated, city-wide civic infrastructure revamping plan rather than isolated, point-wise fixes. The Commission was emphatic that schoolchildren should not again find themselves stranded in school buses for hours during extreme rainfall.

As a major urban and economic centre, the Commission noted, Gurugram requires civic infrastructure commensurate with the scale, density and intensity of its population, built environment and economic activity. It added that repeated disruption of roads, schools, emergency services, water supply and ordinary mobility during heavy rain cannot be treated as an unavoidable feature of urban life.

The panel clarified that it was not, at this stage, recording a final finding of violation, and that the proceedings were meant to establish the factual position. It observed, however, that a persistent and foreseeable failure of essential civic infrastructure, if traceable to neglect or inadequate planning, could have a direct bearing on the enjoyment of human rights.