The Government of Haryana has recently concluded a massive spate of consultations in Gurugram ahead of setting up a development authority for the ‘millenium city’. The demand for Gurugram Development Authority (GDA) has been articulated amidst a growing sense of frustration about the lack of infrastructure and services in a city that is not only growing exponentially, but also one which a sizeable number of corporates and upwardly mobile families have decided to call home.

Certainly, this sort of thorough consultation process is unprecedented in the State and rare in India. I was fortunate enough to attend one of these meetings about ten days ago and was pleasantly surprised at the open spirit with which it was conducted by IAS officer V Umashankar, who is the Officer on Special Duty looking after the creation of the GDA. A look at the consultation schedule will offer an insight into the range of stakeholders brought to the table and I have reports of many smaller meetings in addition to these.

Gurugram’s rapidly changing skyline: Upcoming sectors seen from my balcony

Cart before the horse: Create, then consult, in usual sarkari style

One of the main issues on the table was the need for the GDA in a city where multiple institutions are already in the fray. Many of the roles outlined in the Draft GDA Bill (see draft bill and other GDA related documents here), including its major role of urban planning, can be taken on by the municipal corporation (MCG) as per the 12th Schedule of the 74th Constitutional Amendment. Further, State agencies like Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and the state’s industrial development corporation (HSIDC) maintain control over lands that they have acquired and developed over time. The justification for the GDA, therefore, emerged in the context of the need for coordination among multiple agencies. Ironically, this must happen, as has elsewhere, through the birth of a new institution. The urgent need for capacity enhancements within the MCG were discussed, but overall, despite the open discussion about the need for the GDA, its creation appeared as a foregone conclusion. The text on its official website (yes, it already has one!) is a giveaway in this regard and, in my opinion, puts a shadow on the intentions of the consultation:

The Gurugram Development Authority created in 2016 under the provisions of the Haryana Development Act 1975 “to promote and secure the development of Haryana”.
Key role of GDA would be to manage orderly-yet-rapid development of Gurugram and regulate planned development activity, to control building operations and regulate land usage. 

Looking over Nathupur: It’s not all hunky dory, the urban poor are not on the table as yet when it comes to consultations in Gurugram

Where’s the moolah?

Institutional design, therefore, will emerge as a significant challenge in the process of setting up the GDA and indications that the new agency will desist from taking on roles like change of land use (CLU) and building permits, which often create internal conflict, is heartening. But more worrying will be the struggle with finding sustainable sources of funding beyond State government grants. By the accounts of eminent citizens, relying on the HUDA to transfer unspent external development charges to create a corpus for the GDA is a futile expectation. It is hard to imagine acceptance for additional levies on existing taxes in a city where residents are already feeling very cheated about the poor payback for being one of the highest tax contributors in the country!

Conversations in the backdrop of the tanker: Despite its wealth concentration, Gurugram is at the cusp of the rural and urban

Opportunities to change the game: Participatory planning, accountability, transparency

As a planning agency, the GDA will have plenty on its table. The failure of Gurugram as a planning model has been widely acknowledged and the challenges of overcoming existing systemic challenges and putting in place a fresh planning vision (and regime) cannot be underestimated. However, this is a city that has unique strengths as well in the form of an engaged civil society, plenty of technical expertise and substantial corporate clout. Institutionalizing a process of participatory planning in the Bill itself, through the involvement of a sensitively constituted citizen committee, will be absolutely essential. This point was brought forth by many experts during the consultation including former Planning Commission member and Gurugram resident Arun Maira. The involvement of such a body, and perhaps other mechanisms of broad-based feedback and greivance redressal, through the planning and implementation process but also while monitoring will also boost accountability and transparency, essential elements that will go a long way in acquiring the trust and cooperation of Gurgaon’s citizens and stakeholders.

In conclusion, I would say that change is a constant and in the status quo situation that this city has faced for so many years, something had to give! If the creation of the GDA is a foregone conclusion, I would rather spend my energy in shaping it with the right intents and architecture so that it can be of some service to a city that is as much capable of brilliant achievements as it is in the brink of disaster.

There is much to love in the city…all the more reason why so many of us will fight to get the best out of the system