News: Rao Inderjit Regrets Aug 24 Gurugram Flooding-03-09-2026
Rao Inderjit Singh, Gurugram MP and union minister, said on Wednesday that he was sorry for the waterlogging on August 24, "particularly" for children, parents and other citizens who sat in traffic for hours. After chairing a review at the PWD Guest House with senior officials from the GMDA, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram, the district administration and the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), he said responsibility and accountability would be fixed in coming months. The city has seen repeated flooding over two months despite agency assurances of none this year. Singh called it the product of systemic failure, inadequate delivery by state and local bodies and unregulated real estate development, and said the major push for better infrastructure must come from the state government.
His plan combines rainwater harvesting, restoring natural drainage and accountability. With Gurugram’s water table down to an average of 38.8 metres, he said, rain should be conserved rather than sent to Yamuna. Experts and agencies have been engaged to design scientific answers centred on groundwater recharge, so that water is used, not just drained away. On X he said he had ordered an inquiry into "the negligence by the Irrigation Department and other officials" and an action plan for the future.
Agencies will put in injection tubewells to push rainwater into aquifers, create water bodies on unused government and municipal land, revive ponds and map natural streams, drains and historical water paths by satellite. Land at the Sirhaul border near Ambience Mall has been requested from the state tourism department for a water body. Under the proposed drain to Yamuna in Palwal, water would first fill ponds and lakes, with only the surplus leaving the district.
Singh, a former Indian National Congress MP, alleged that between 2004 and 2014, under the previous government, licences often placed natural river channels, drains and flow paths inside development zones, blocking natural drainage. He said he had directed satellite mapping and reclamation of drains and ponds captured by developers, with action against developers who took public land. More than half a dozen ponds are encroached, and a report has been sought. Describing his powers as an MP as limited, he urged the state to slow expansion until infrastructure for existing residents improves.
