News: Gurugram Agencies Given a Day to Plan Groundwater Cut-06-10-2026
Civic and district agencies in Gurugram have been told to prepare plans to cut groundwater use and rely more on canal water, with the district extracting more than twice its annually available groundwater resource.
The directions came on Monday at a meeting chaired by Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) chief executive officer PC Meena, convened after an October 1 order of the Punjab and Haryana high court. The court recorded that levels in parts of the city have fallen to nearly 40 metres below ground level. Submissions before it put extraction at around 212.8% of the annually extractable resource.
Meena asked departments to submit action plans by October 6 and told the district administration to act against unauthorised borewells. The court has asked GMDA to examine whether extraction can be stopped in areas already receiving its piped water and to report by October 8.
Officials were asked to plan ways of retaining rainwater, including reviving water bodies, lowering green-belt levels and converting suitable parks into bioswales. Meena also sought wider use of tertiary-treated wastewater, of which GMDA supplies around 10 MLD to the textile industry.
GMDA is examining underground rainwater storage beneath parks, including below the football ground at Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Sector 38. Five rainwater-harvesting structures are being developed with IIT Delhi.
According to the Haryana Water Resources Authority, 142 ponds are to be rejuvenated in the district, of which 68 are done and 74 in progress.
