Gurgaon officials asked to explain why flooding happens every year, Haryana panel says stuck school buses and blocked ambulances put lives at risk; orders citywide drainage audit

Gurgaon's yearly flooding problem has landed in front of the Haryana Human Rights Commission, which says the issue goes beyond bad roads and blocked drains. In an order passed on Friday, the commission said repeated waterlogging in the city touches people's basic rights, including the right to live with safety and dignity.

The commission took up the matter on its own after reading news reports in the Times of India about the city's flooding during the heavy rain on August 24. It said the problem had gone on for years and could not be blamed on one bad spell of rain.

Human rights angle brought in

HHRC linked Gurgaon's flooding to Article 21 of the Constitution, which protects the right to life and personal liberty. The commission said this includes the right to live in conditions that are safe and healthy. It added that flooded roads, disrupted schools, and delayed emergency services cannot be treated as a normal part of city life.

The order was passed by a full bench of the commission, made up of retired Justice Lalit Batra, judicial member Kuldeep Jain and member Deep Bhatia. The bench said if the flooding was caused by neglect, poor planning or lack of maintenance, it could count as a rights violation. However, the commission has not blamed any single agency yet, saying that will only happen after the facts are checked.

School buses and ambulances flagged
The commission specifically pointed to children who got stuck in school buses during the August 24 rain, and parents who struggled to find out if their kids were safe. It also noted how ambulances and other emergency vehicles were delayed because of flooded roads, as reported by the Times of India.

To fix this, HHRC has ordered real-time tracking of school buses, so schools, parents and police can stay in touch during heavy rain. It also wants safe holding points set up where buses can wait if roads become unsafe, and a ban on buses entering known flooding spots during extreme rain. Separately, the commission wants clear emergency routes marked out for ambulances, fire trucks and police vehicles, so they are not stuck in traffic during floods.

Full drainage audit ordered
The commission has told nine agencies, including GMDA, the municipal corporation, HSVP, PWD, the public health engineering department, the irrigation department, DHBVN, town planning bodies and the district administration, to jointly carry out a technical audit of the city's drains.

This audit will check the capacity of storm-water drains and natural water channels, look at the 99 waterlogging points already identified by officials, and study whether sewage lines and storm-water drains are wrongly connected. It will also check underground utilities and weak spots on roads.

HHRC has additionally asked for GIS-based mapping of all drains in the city, so any encroachments blocking natural water flow can be found and removed. Officials have also been told to check if the current drainage system can handle both today's rainfall and future growth in the city.

Cave-in near IFFCO Chowk also flagged
The commission has separately ordered a safety check of roads, culverts, underpasses and underground utilities, especially near IFFCO Chowk, where a cave-in was recently reported.

Agencies have also been asked to share data going back five years on drainage problems, what repairs were approved, and whether those repairs were actually carried out. This includes details on pre-monsoon cleaning of drains, pump capacity, and how quickly the water was cleared from key areas during the August 24 rain.

To make sure the audit is thorough, HHRC has suggested that an independent study be carried out by an institute such as IIT or NIT, covering Gurgaon's entire drainage system as a whole, rather than looking at flooded spots one at a time.

Inputs from TOI