Gurugram’s civic infrastructure must match scale of city, says human rights panel

A resilient, adequately planned and effectively maintained civic infrastructure was an essential component of a safe, dignified and rights-compliant urban environment, the Haryana Human Rights Commission has observed, while taking suo motu cognisance of recurring waterlogging in Gurugram.

The three-member Commission led by Chairperson Lalit Batra, in a 17-page order, sought a conjoint compliance report from various agencies and suggested a series of measures to strengthen and improve the city’s civic infrastructure, including a comprehensive infrastructure audit, an integrated urban drainage and civic infrastructure revamp plan, mapping of natural drains and encroachments, measures to ensure the safety of schoolchildren and an emergency mobility plan.

Referring to media reports on extensive waterlogging in different parts of the city following heavy rain last month and the inconvenience caused to residents, particularly schoolchildren, the Commission said the matter had “a significant constitutional and civic planning dimension”.

Referring to Articles 21, 47 and 48A of the Constitution, the Commission said adequate drainage and sanitation were essential civic requirements and deficiencies could adversely affect public health, hygiene and the dignified living conditions of residents.

“Gurugram’s drainage problem requires an integrated City-wide Civic Infrastructure Revamping Plan rather than isolated point-wise interventions,” the Commission said, stressing that “school children should not again be placed in a situation where they remain stranded in school buses for several hours during extreme rainfall”.

The Commission said Gurugram, as a major urban and economic centre, needed civic infrastructure commensurate with the “scale, density and intensity of its population, built environment and economic activity”.

Repeated disruption of roads, schools, emergency services, water supply and ordinary mobility during heavy rainfall could not be treated as an unavoidable feature of urban life, it said.

The Commission clarified that it was not, at this stage, recording a final finding of violation and that the proceedings were aimed at ascertaining the factual position.

It observed that persistent and foreseeable failure of essential civic infrastructure, if attributable to neglect or inadequate planning, could have a direct bearing on “the enjoyment of human rights”.