Gurugram's Sector 21 Under Siege: Persistent Waterlogging and Sanitation Woes Fuel Dengue and Malaria Terror

Residents of Gurugram's Sector 21 are living on the edge, their daily lives dominated by a pervasive fear of dengue and malaria outbreaks. The culprit? An alarming combination of persistent waterlogging and a woefully inadequate sanitation system that has transformed their neighbourhood into a hazardous breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes.

Following even moderate rainfall, streets and common areas in Sector 21 become veritable canals, with ankle-deep water refusing to recede for days.

This stagnant water, a cocktail of rainwater and overflowing sewage from choked drains, creates an ideal environment for mosquitoes to thrive, turning every puddle into a potential death trap for the community.

The putrid stench emanating from these festering pools is not just an assault on the senses but a stark reminder of the escalating health crisis.

Families, particularly those with young children and elderly members, are forced to navigate through these unhygienic conditions daily, their anxieties mounting with each passing hour. The fear is palpable: last year's dengue and malaria scares are still fresh in memory, and residents dread a repeat, or worse, an intensified epidemic this season.

Frustration is boiling over amongst the residents who claim their repeated pleas to civic authorities have fallen on deaf ears.

They point fingers at both the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) and the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), citing a perennial lack of coordinated effort and proactive measures to address the fundamental issues of drainage and waste management. Basic infrastructure, they argue, is crumbling, and the response from those entrusted with public health and safety is conspicuously absent.

"It's a ticking time bomb," laments a long-time resident.

"We pay our taxes, but we get neglected infrastructure and the constant threat of illness in return. How long must we endure this? Are authorities waiting for a full-blown health emergency before they finally act?" This sentiment resonates across the sector, where every open drain and waterlogged patch represents a failure of urban planning and governance.

With the monsoon season in full swing, the situation is set to worsen, amplifying the risk of widespread illness.

Doctors in local clinics are already reporting an uptick in cases of fever and flu-like symptoms, urging residents to take extreme precautions. However, individual efforts to combat mosquitoes feel futile against the backdrop of systemic civic negligence. The community desperately calls for immediate and decisive action from Gurugram's civic bodies – not just temporary fixes, but a sustainable solution to ensure their health, safety, and peace of mind.