Gurgaon’s waterlogging debate turns to old drains and 12 years of BJP rule

School buses caught in deep water near Subhash Chowk have sharpened Gurgaon’s long-running argument over who is responsible for its flooded roads and underpasses.

Union minister and Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh said development over old drainage channels during the Congress period disrupted natural routes that once carried rainwater from the Aravalis towards the Yamuna. He called current interventions “band-aid solutions” and proposed recreating those routes through underground tunnels.

Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda said the BJP government and Gurgaon’s elected representatives should apologise to residents for recurring waterlogging, sanitation and infrastructure failures. He sought accountability from GMDA, HSVP and MCG, and demanded a CAG audit of Rs 15,000 crore he said had been collected through external and internal development charges.

State minister and Badshapur MLA Rao Narbir Singh said the BJP could not say the problem was not its fault after 12 years in office. “We have to accept that whatever needed to be done has not been done to the extent it should have been,” he said.

The exchange follows Rao Inderjit Singh’s meeting with the Haryana chief minister as waterlogging continues across Gurgaon.