Just 10 kilometers from Gurgaon, Hayatpur Village is located amidst green fields, which will unfortunately soon become a thing of the past - like many villages of the City, which have been transformed into concrete ghettos because of haphazard urbanization. The land in Hayatpur has also been sold to builders for private development, and the day is not far when it will be sandwiched between new development and no development. However, residents of the Village, led by Sarpanch Shiv Narain, assert that they will not allow Hayatpur to be eclipsed and turned into an urban ghetto. “It is for this reason that we embarked on a cleanliness drive in the Village, got drains built and lanes constructed”, says Shiv Narain. The efforts made in the last 2 years have not been wasted, as Hayatpur was awarded the Nirmal Gram Puruskar from the Haryana government, for being one of the cleanest villages in the State.
The Sarpanch says that the Award vindicates the commitment of the people and the Panchayat towards the Village. His major grouse is that the government is now not allowing them to spend any money for the development of the Village. “The Panchayat has around Rs. 7 to 8 crores of its own money, which it got when the Village common lands were sold or acquired by the builders”, he informs. If this money is allowed to be spent by the local officials, then the Panchayat would be able to set up a sewage system in the Village; this is presently a major problem for the residents. Hayatpur has around 500 homes and the population of the Village is around 5,000. The Sarpanch says that he is dependent on the Panchayat Secretary for spending the money, and often bills remain unpaid. Presently, the Panchayat has employed some sanitation workers, but it wants to hire more workers and do more for sanitation. “We are restrained despite our good intentions and proven work. The government ‘red tape’ is the biggest problem impacting development in villages”, he adds.
Sarpanch Shiv Narain says that he has spent money from his own pocket to carry out some development work. “You can take a round of the Village and see how much work we have done. Our goal is to make Hayatpur a model village”, he asserts. The Sarpanch is peeved with the government officials who, instead of empowering the Panchayats, are turning them into ineffective institutions. The builders who have bought village land including - DLF, Vatika and others - have also not taken any responsibility to boost the services, facilities or infrastructure in the Village. The Sarpanch says that although it is the responsibility of the developers to support the local villages, they have shown no such intention – and that is why he has stayed away from them. “We would anyway prefer to use our own money to develop our Village”, he asserts.
Nila Ram, a resident of the Village, says that the priority is to build a sewage system and a dispensary in Hayatpur. “I am happy that the Village has got the Award. The Village School has been ‘plastered’ recently, the Old Age Home has also been given a facelift, and some work has been undertaken on lanes and drains. All of us are proud of these developments”, he says. The Village residents say that since Hayatpur is in a low lying area, there is need to develop a system to check waterlogging, which affects the area in a major way during the monsoon. The need for a veterinary hospital is also acutely felt, as most of the villagers still maintain a cattle stock. Shivpal, a resident, says that both men and animals have to be rushed to Gurgaon for treatment, which is a major issue.
The villagers are wary of the government and developers/builders. “First the government takes away the land, and once the private colonies come up the villages are left high and dry. The Panchayats become defunct and their voice is scuttled, as powerful outside forces then decide what happens in the ‘new urban villages’”, says Sarpanch Shiv Narain. He is also critical of the Gurgaon-based politicians, who he says are worried only about winning elections and making real estate deals. The villagers who have sold their land to builders say that they will ensure that development work is taken up in Hayatpur. “We want the government to upgrade the infrastructure around the Village, which is surrounded by developed areas”, says Ram Gopal. Private developers and industry may not want to adopt the Village, but they need to help in building the sewage system and repairing the roads, which will be used by the new residents as well. Shiv Narain says that the government has made thousands of crores of rupees through stamp duty, fees for change of land use and ‘development charges’. The lands of many villages have earned them enormous surplus, but they have forgotten about any civic or social development of the villages. “ We are not going to let this happen in Hayatpur. We have seen what has happened in ‘main’ Gurgaon villages; we will not allow it be repeated here”, he asserts. The residents also question the functioning of HUDA, and ask what it has done for the 16 villages for which it had appointed a ‘consultant’. Shiv Narain says that lakhs of people are today living in villages in Gurgaon, which has upset the character of these areas; the villages in the new sectors of Gurgaon must learn from this sad experience. Hayatpur, he says, has resolved to keep its character and cleanliness intact – with or without the government.
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