Traffic at Cyber City held up due to protest over water shortage

BLOCKADE Nathupur residents took to the roads, alleged inaction by officials in the last 10 days

GURUGRAM: Traffic on the Ambience Mall-Cyber City stretch was severely affected for 45 minutes on Thursday morning after residents of Nathupur village blocked the main carriageway leading towards Golf Course Road and MG Road in protest against inadequate water supply to their area.

The protest started around 11.30am, when more than 100 people from the village, including women and children, stood on the main roads, preventing traffic from proceeding further.

Due to the blockage, there was about a kilometre-long gridlock between Cyber City and the exit leading towards DLF Phase-3.

With the four-lane road blocked, the police diverted traffic through the exit towards DLF Phase-3 and below the Shankar Chowk flyover.

“After receiving a call from the police control room, my team and I reached the spot within five minutes and started clearing the congestion and resolving the issue of Nathupur residents,” said inspector Vishnu Parshad, the station house officer of DLF Phase-2 police station.

Nathupur residents, the police said, refused to budge from the spot until Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) officials arrived at the spot and addressed their issues.

Parshad said that subsequently, junior engineer (JE) Kuldeep Kumar and executive engineer Gopal Gahlwat of the MCG reached the spot and went with the villagers to Nathupur, which is located behind Cyber City, after discussions to examine the issue.

Parshad said that no arrest was made in this regard and no case has been registered.

The blockage led to many commuters taking a longer route to reach their destinations.

“After seeing the traffic congestion at Cyber City, I took a U-turn below the Shankar Chowk flyover and had to travel till Delhi and back to head towards Golf Course Road. As a result of the traffic, I was delayed by more than one hour,” Aniket Kapoor, a resident of DLF-5, said.

Villagers said that there is an issue with the valve of the pipeline supplying water to the village, which is causing low water supply to their area for the last 10 days. “We have been alerting the MCG officials constantly about the water issue, but they did not take any action. Hence, we had no choice but to stage a protest on the main road to draw their attention,” Sandeep Kumar, a villager, said.

Residents have been relying on water tankers for the last two weeks and three areas —Naya, Moda and Chavadi mohallas — have been worst affected.

“We are paying nearly Rs900 for a tanker and have to depend on it every third day,” Rajo Devi, a resident of the village, said.

Kuldeep Kumar, the JE concerned, attributed the low water supply to low water supply to the boosting station in Nathupur from the Basai plant.

“Until Wednesday, there was

› We have been alerting the MCG officials constantly about the water issue, but they did not take any action. Hence, we had no choice but to stage a protest on the main road to draw their attention.

SANDEEP KUMAR, resident, Nathupur village

low water supply from the Basai plant but the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) officials have now rectified the issue and have increased the pressure of water supply. Normal supply shall resume shortly,” Kumar said.

“We are also verifying if the boosting station has any inherent issue that could have played a role in the low water pressure,” Kumar said.

Lalit Arora, the superintending engineer of GMDA, refuted the MCG’s claim and said that there “could be a localised problem that caused the shortage in water supply.”