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Is it Easy to go Green in One of India's Fastest Growing Cities?
Welcome to Gurgaon, the bustling millennium city that adds glitz and glamour to the National Capital Region of India. A decade ago, the demographics of Gurgaon comprised mostly of cash rich Hariyanvi Jats (locals as addressed in Haryana) whose major source of income was agriculture and related activities. But today Gurgaon, with its 1.5 million residents has redefined itself into an international corporate destination with world class infrastructure. The move that started a decade ago with General Electric setting up their back office operations has now spawned into most global majors establishing an office here. The proximity to the New Delhi International Airport and a one hop convenience to most major cities across the world have only increased the appeal of Gurgaon. The global economic slowdown also saw a number of expats relocating to Gurgaon, as the city offered corporate executives and their families a rich Indian experience coupled with an international lifestyle. The demographic dividend in India, and the opportunities that it exposes, keeps up the constant flow of new companies setting up offices in Gurgaon. This growth has spawned the rapid increase in supporting infrastructure like schools, international stores, markets, hospitals etc. in a fairly haphazard fashion, with really no clear direction or plan from the local government.
Mr. Harry Diwaker, an expat working for a multinational, relocated to Gurgaon with his family, two years ago. Their initial experience in the millennium city was joyful – with choices of world class housing communities filled with like - minded people, international gourmet products available in the racks of most departmental stores, high quality domestic help which until then was a luxury. Harry says, “We were blissfully enjoying our first few months settling down here, until one day my children wanted to go to a park and play”. Gurgaon, with all its swank and shiny developments lacks in providing its residents good quality lifestyle options – pedestrian walkways, parks, cycling lanes, zoos, gardens etc. Expats like Harry feel let down by the unbalanced development in Gurgaon. “We feel like we are living in an isolated private island, yet with a lot of development happening around us”, he says. Residents of Gurgaon are struck by the lack of greenery, or any appreciation or understanding by the community to develop and protect the environment. “The only planned greenery is what we see within our condo” Harry says wistfully. “Given the lack of basic infrastructure, the government seems to have put the environment on the backburner, with little chances of getting prioritized over the next decade.” Give the pace of development does the Millennium City have the potential to become clean and green? As Mahatma Gandhi has rightly said, “You must be the change you want to see in this world”, this city has the right blend of people who have the intellectual and economic capacity to think and develop their society further. For instance, we can change our food consumption to eating more locally than nurturing our taste buds to favor produce from around the world. Since its always summer in some corner of the world, we rely on a food chain that delivers global produce right through the year. Have we given any thought to the carbon emissions in transporting food products around the world? Encouraging local farmers to set up weekend farmers’ markets across various communities, and influencing your fellow residents to buy from them, would help us enjoy our food better, and every mouthful contributes back to the environment. With all the hard work and economic development, the financial status of most Gurgaon residents have grown multiple folds, leading to a more flashy and flamboyant lifestyle. This has also spawned a culture of “Hyper- Individuality” of highly successful professionals and businessmen. Step into the dusty streets of Gurgaon and you are assaulted by the gas guzzling SUVs and luxury sedans (in fact Gurgaon accounts for 40% of Mercedes sales in India). Due to the lack of public transport in the satellite city, most families are forced to invest in more than one car, which once increases the cloud of emissions over Gurgaon. This may perhaps be the right time for collective responsibility among residents in Gurgaon to forge a commitment to Going Green. One of the casualties of hyper-growth in Gurgaon has been the inability of the local government to adequately provide power, water and sanitation to its residents. This has forced condominiums and communities to invest in their own infrastructure, which are multi-million dollar investments, which raise the overall cost of living. Emissions from these high capacity diesel generators are another large source of carbon emissions that can be potentially averted. In addition, these modern building in Gurgaon have the potential to be built using thermal insulation, as good insulation tends to be most effective in terms of long term cost and energy savings for climate swings in Gurgaon that range from two to forty-nine degree Celsius. The time to make some positive choices for our future is right before us and hence as individuals it’s time we make the right decisions - from the potatoes we choose in the farmers’ market to the level of carbon emissions from our lifestyle choices. All of the above just reaffirms the potential we have to change for the better. Gurgaon is only a microcosm of the sudden Indian growth story, but the changes here, made possible by its own residents, can set an example for other towns and cities to follow. Editor's note: Most articles submitted to Chillibreeze go through a selection process. Only 30 percent of submitted articles are accepted for publication on the Chillibreeze.com featured article list. All accepted articles are edited and proofread for glaring errors of punctuation and grammar. Sentence structure is changed in certain cases and sometimes, entire sections are rewritten. If you notice any errors that have slipped through the cracks, do let us know! (Email us at info at chillibreeze dot com). Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in September, 2011. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time. More on Chillibreeze.comRelated links: Top Ten Ways to a Clean, Green and Guilt Free Life Other popular articles on Chillibreeze: Prisoner of Historic Elegance at Kaala Paani
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