News: MCG to take over Maruti Vihar within two weeks-02-02-2021
The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) is set to take over Maruti Vihar, a gated colony on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon (MG) Road, within the next two weeks
An internal order in this regard was issued last week by MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh, directing the agency’s engineering wing to assess civic deficiencies in the colony, and accordingly, issue tenders to rectify or build new infrastructure. Singh further directed the officials to complete the tendering process within two weeks and take over the colony immediately.
“The assessment will help the MCG identify areas where civic upgrades are required on priority. Directions have been issued to the officials concerned to take over the colony at the earliest and a maximum deadline of two weeks has been set, so that the MCG can start providing optimum civic services to residents of Maruti Vihar on an immediate basis,” said Singh.
Spread across 23 acres, Maruti Vihar is sandwiched between DLF Phase-4 and MG Road, due to which the colony has a high real estate value. It was set up in 1988, when the Haryana Housing Board had allotted developed land to the Maruti Employees Cooperative Housing Building Society for setting up a colony. Allotment of properties commenced in 1991.
Over time, the original owners have moved out of the colony, which currently houses residents from varying backgrounds. As per the Maruti Vihar residents’ welfare association (RWA), there are 1,118 houses in the colony that house at least 6,000 people.
Last year, the RWA of the colony had approached RS Rathee, the MCG councillor of Ward 34, requesting that the MCG take over the colony due to insufficient funds for upkeep, leading to degradation of civic infrastructure.
“Over the past decade, the MCG has been assisting us by providing several civic facilities within the colony. They have provided us with water supply, looked after the parks, and also constructed tube wells at their own cost. We realised that the resources of the MCG have been heavily beneficial for the society, which the RWA couldn’t have been able to provide. Hence, we wanted MCG to take over all the services,” said JK Sharma, president, Maruti Vihar RWA.
Sharma cited several civic deficiencies in the colony, with streetlights being the worst affected. “The RWA is spending around ₹3 lakh per month for running existing streetlights. It is already proving to be expensive for us, and we are in not in a financial position to add new streetlights. Thus, there is a great need among residents for MCG to take over the colony and fix such issues,” said Sharma.
According to RS Rathee, the entire takeover process took just six months. “Unlike other colonies taken over by the MCG, Maruti Vihar was not set up by a private developer. So, when I took up the matter, only public departments such as the MCG, Haryana Housing Board and the Department of Town and Country Planning were involved. Since all the requisite formalities were done at an internal government level, the entire process was completed in quick time,” said Rathee.
Maruti Vihar is located next to Saraswati Vihar, which was also developed by the Haryana Housing Board on 61 acres in the late 1980s and taken over by the MCG in early 2015.
