Gurgaon: Congress MP Deepender Hooda on Sunday launched an attack on the BJP-led govt in the state, holding its “triple-engine” rule responsible for Gurgaon’s worsening civic crisis and accusing it of turning the city into a mess of garbage, waterlogging, potholes, traffic jams and pollution.Addressing a rural block Congress conference in Badshapur, Hooda said BJP could no longer blame Congress for the city’s problems when the Centre, Haryana govt, Gurgaon MP and MLA were all from the party. “Today, wherever you go in Gurgaon, roads are broken, water is accumulated and there are traffic jams. Gurgaon has been turned into a ‘jal-gram’,” he added.Hooda said the city had effectively been hit on “jal, thal and nabh” — water, land and air. He alleged that garbage dumps and damaged roads had become common, while also referring to a “garbage scam”. On pollution, he claimed the Centre had told Parliament that Gurgaon had the highest air pollution among cities in the country.He also revived the issue around Indian National Defence University, alleging that the institution set up at Binola during the previous Congress-led govt was shifted to Gandhinagar in Gujarat under BJP. “If the present Gurgaon MP has Gurgaon in his heart, he should ask his govt to bring the university back to Gurgaon,” Hooda said.Taking aim at BJP’s broader approach towards Haryana, he alleged that projects and opportunities were increasingly being shifted to Gujarat. “BJP should at least follow raj dharma. Give us what is our right and give Gujarat what belongs to Gujarat,” he said, also referring to Haryana’s claim to hosting major sporting events.Hooda accused the govt of presiding over unemployment, migration and law-and-order problems, saying Haryana had slipped from its earlier position in per-capita income, investment, economic growth, sports and infrastructure during 12 years of BJP rule.He also hit back at Gurgaon MP and Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh over his recent remarks that the city’s civic problems were inherited from Congress. Pointing out that Singh had been a Congress MP for 10 years and a Union minister in the UPA govt, Hooda said sarcastically, “They may as well say that Nehruji is responsible for Gurgaon’s problems.”Questioning BJP’s accountability, Hooda pointed out that former CM and Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar and incumbent CM Nayab Singh Saini had headed the Gurgaon grievance committee.The MP contrasted BJP’s record with the previous Congress govt, citing the municipal corporation, metro and rapid metro, IMT Manesar, Gurgaon-Faridabad highway, Gurgaon University and major water infrastructure as projects developed during its tenure. He claimed 63% of Dwarka Expressway work was completed under Congress.“During the 10 years of Congress govt, there was not even one report of traffic jams or waterlogging in Gurgaon,” he claimed, adding that BJP govt had failed to build a single civil hospital in the city in 12 years.He announced that Congress MPs from Haryana would wear black clothes while entering Parliament during the next session to highlight problems in the city.
