Gurgaon: One of the NCR’s most scenic drives is now emblematic of civic failure.Gurgaon-Faridabad Road has been reduced to a dumping corridor.What was once a long-drive destination for residents has become an “eyesore”, commuters said. Ankit Tripathy, a commuter, would go with his wife, earlier, on Gurgaon-Faridabad Road “for a long drive since several cafes too had opened on the route”. Now, they have stopped going because it has become “hideous”, he says.The road — cutting through the Aravalis — remains strewn with garbage and construction and demolition (C&D) waste, while sewage gets discharged into the Aravalis and dust chokes stretches of the carriageway during peak hours.The sewage allegation acquires greater urgency when viewed against what was witnessed on Friday. A tanker was seen emptying sewage into the Aravalis on the Faridabad side of the road. Garbage and C&D waste could be spotted at multiple points, while construction debris, which commuters said had been lying for months, remained uncleared.For thousands of office-goers who use the road — that serves as a critical artery between the two cities — every day, the transformation is impossible to miss.Residents and commuters said that Gurgaon-Faridabad Road has become a glaring symbol of civic apathy, with the two biggest municipal corporations in Haryana failing to maintain the key artery.“Faridabad and Gurgaon municipal corporations have no fear. There is absolutely no check of how the Aravalis are dumped with waste,” Jitender Bhadana, who travels daily from Faridabad to Gurgaon for work, told TOI, adding, “It was a scenic route for all of us. Now there is garbage dumping every 100 to 200 metres on the road.”The once-green landscape that made the drive between Gurgaon and Faridabad distinctive is now punctuated by garbage heaps, debris, stray animals and stagnant water. The visual degradation has also driven away some of the very people who once came here for recreation.The road’s condition also raises a more uncomfortable question of how such blatant dumping can continue on a major route that is routinely used by senior govt officials and VIP convoys.The road is hardly hidden from public view. VIP convoys routinely traverse the same corridor. Nitika, a resident of Gwal Pahari, recalled a VIP movement on Tuesday evening when traffic was halted for nearly half an hour at Gwal Pahari traffic signal. “A minister was apparently travelling from Faridabad to Gurgaon and this happens quite often. I wonder, are these ministers blind to the roads they are travelling on?” she said.The complaint is not about an isolated garbage pile or an occasional truck unloading debris. It is about a corridor where multiple forms of civic dereliction appear to have converged.Bhadana said natural drains along the route have, over the years, been encroached upon by developers, contributing to persistent waterlogging around Gwal Pahari.The consequences are felt immediately on the road: Waterlogging slows traffic, bottlenecks intensify during peak hours and an already stressed arterial becomes even more dysfunctional.And then there is the construction waste. Just ahead of Khushboo Chowk, commuters point to what they describe as indiscriminate dumping of C&D waste, despite fencing along the sidewalks.The contrast, he said, is particularly stark: Construction waste and garbage piles sit alongside cafes that were built to capitalise on the area’s scenic appeal.“As soon as I enter Gurgaon through this road, there is a big dump of garbage welcoming us just ahead of Guru Dronacharya metro station,” Tripathy said, adding that the issue has repeatedly been raised on social media.MCG commissioner Pradeep Dahiya told TOI, “We issued penalties amounting to Rs 2.7 crore for the illegal waste dumping and littering in the last one year across the city. For Gurgaon-Faridabad Road specifically, we will improve our surveillance and enforcement and will ensure no illegal dumping happens on the road. All the issues on this arterial road will be resolved within a week.”MCF commissioner Yashendra Singh remained unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts by the TOI reporter.The complaints have now moved beyond aesthetics. Dust pollution on portions of the route is making visibility difficult, commuters said, forcing vehicles to slow down during already congested peak-hour traffic.The result is a vicious cycle: Poor road conditions contribute to slower traffic, slower traffic compounds congestion, and dust further compromises the driving environment.Another commuter, Jagmohan Bhadana, described the road as a symbol of what he sees as the failure of the two municipal corporations to maintain basic civic standards.“If there is one road that exposes the civic failure of Haryana’s two biggest municipal corporations, it is the Gurgaon-Faridabad road. There is indiscriminate dumping of solid waste and C&D waste, sewage is being discharged illegally, dust pollution is severe and stray animals roam freely on the road. The two corporations have failed to get even the most basic civic management under control,” he said.Near Bandhwari landfill, the waste-management paradox was even more stark. Waste was found outside the landfill boundary, while stretches of the road also had material that looked like bio-soil dumped alongside it.
