Photo: Prakhar Pandey
Wazirabad Village is the largest and one of the most prosperous villages in Gurgaon District, with over 20,000 residents. Most of the farmers in the village have either sold their land to private builders or HUDA has acquired their land. The resultant wealth can be witnessed in the form of a large retinue of cars in almost every street of the Village. The Village roads are ‘pukka’, though the drains alongside are filled with sewage that seems to have not moved for ages. There are many people here who rue the HUDA acquisition, as acres of land were acquired at very nominal rates. Sectors 52,53, 54, 55, 56 and private colonies like Ardee City, DLF Phase V and several smaller complexes have come up on the circumference of the Village, blocking it from all sides. However, the rural character of the Village still remains, and people can still be seen playing cards, enjoying the ‘hookah’ or passing time at ‘chaupals’. This rustic identity has also caused problems, as the villagers have not been able to assimilate or allowed to become a part of the modern, uber-corporate Gurgaon that is growing around them. It is a case of being so close and yet so far, as young men from Wazirabad fail to get jobs in private companies and manufacturing firms – ‘outsiders’ are preferred. As a result, property dealing and rentals have become the major source of occupation and income. However, the Village has fortunately not suffered the fate of villages like Nathupur and Chakarpur, where the tenants today outnumber the original inhabitants. Mukesh Kumar, a resident of Wazirabad Village, says, "The condition of roads, lanes and streets in our Village is fine, and our Councillor (Ashok Kumar) takes pains to resolve these issues.” The main problem is that sewerage system, which was set up under Panchayati Raj, has not been able to keep pace with the urbanisation and the increase in population. Every day the sewage gets choked in some part of the Village. Despite the Village falling in the Gurgaon Vidhan Sabha constituency, locals allege that neither the District Administration nor the local MLA have done anything for them. Krishan Pal, a resident, says that despite repeated requests to the government to upgrade the sewage system, nothing has been done. Their demands for community centres and a sports stadium for the youth have been repeatedly denied. Wazirabad has a large number of youth who pursue cricket and other sports at the City's different academies and the Tau Devi Lal Stadium. Ardee City, adjacent to which the Councillor Ashok Kumar has set up an office, has come up on the land once owned by Wazirabad villagers. The colony and its residents are, in a manner, in worse shape than earlier times (but that’s another story). Manish Yadav recalls that the land on which Ardee City has been built used to be the Village common land. Water that flowed down the Aravallis would be stored there, and used for farming and other purposes. In his opinion the ‘developers’ of Gurgaon – both, the government and the private colonisers – have given scant respect to the complex topography, and the need for water harvesting and recharge systems, including village ponds and check dams.
The residents of Ardee City and other sectors around the Village often join ranks with the villagers during the protests against the government, but there are hardly any community relations between the two ‘sides’. The locals also complain that modern, international schools set up in the colonies do not accept kids of families residing in the village. A number of villagers had to give proxy addresses, or bought properties outside, to ensure that their kids could go to these modern, upper class, air-conditioned schools of the City. Manish Yadav says that a number of children also prefer the local schools, but the trend now is towards the international schools. Money is not a problem for most of the people, who have sold their land and now dabble in real estate. However, despite being rich, the residents of Wazirabad (like in the rest of society and India) find it difficult to gain entry into the ‘elite’ circles. They are even barred entry, based on ‘profile checks’. As a ‘challenge’, the youth from the village sometimes muscle their way into ‘exclusive’ clubs. Krishan Pal says that when people who earlier owned the land are treated badly, it leads to tension and conflict, especially among the youth. "How can you justify a school denying admission on the basis of an address, and on whether a toddler can speak English? We want our kids to learn, get educated and enter the best colleges - and we can afford it," he adds. While community relations in the Village are still good, there is limited space for public interactions, or even for playing (let alone walking), as there are no parks or community centres. The differences in the language and mode of communication between the villagers and the ‘outsiders’ have caused some barriers. Shree Pal, a resident sitting at one of the shops, says that the majority of the people do not know English, and this causes a lot of problems. This soon becomes evident when a tenant, whom Pal has rented his shop to, comes to get a lease deed signed from him. After having a look at the paper he is confused, and suddenly, as if to test the skill of this correspondent, asks him to explain the contents of the Agreement point wise. His friends are unhappy that the tenant has prepared the document in English. One of them exclaims, "Bhai, Hindi mai laya kar yeh document. English mhare palle na padti." This situation is however changing and locals assert that within the next generation the people of Wazirabad would be modern and ‘English’ enough to compete with the migrants. They admit that the people who were landless and dependent just on agriculture would be left behind, and would probably continue to depend on the Village government school.
Shree Bhagwan says that MCG, which has acquired hundreds of acres of village land and crores of Panchayat funds, has failed to bring about adequate development in the Village, despite the local Councillor making all efforts. The plan for the Village development, under which Rs 10 crores was to be spent by the MCG, has not materialised. The sewerage system, which has failed in the past four years, has not been augmented. The villagers have also opposed the plan to set up a multi-faith crematorium in the Panchayat land, as it lies very close to habitation. Shree Bhagwan argues that instead of a crematorium they want a stadium and a community centre for their kids - a demand pending for several years. Last year, when HUDA officials came for demarcating the area for the crematorium, the villagers had forced them to return. They had even threatened to call for a mahapanchayat if this proposal was not rejected. The locals are still smarting from the past ‘underhand’ actions of government agencies – which, they allege, bought land at heap rates from them in the name of ‘development programs’ (like the setting up of utilities), but later just sold the same at higher rates to private developers. They cite the instance of how 350 acres of Village land was handed over to DLF by the Haryana government, to set up a private project, although the land was acquired by HSIIDC and HUDA to set up industry and a residential area. Not only this, as per records the land was a notified forest - 92 acres of the land came under the Punjab Land Preservation Act, and 161 acres came under the Aravalli Plantation Scheme. While this land was acquired for Rs 70 crores, it was sold to the developer for Rs 1,700 crores, for commercial development. This was objected to by the villagers, and the matter is subjudice. Manish Yadav, a local activist, says that the same story has been repeated in a majority of Gurgaon villages, which have lost their common lands, forest lands and grazing lands. The villagers are also not enthused by the proposed plan of Village Rehabilitation that has been proposed by the MCG Commissioner Praveen Kumar. As per them, they have spent millions of rupees to build their homes on lands where their forefathers have lived for centuries, and now they would not like these to be demolished – that too for a plan that might not even see the light of day. Their only demands, which would help make their lives easier, are for the setting up of community centres, a stadium, and the upgradation of the Primary Health Centre - which was originally planned to be converted into a large hospital. Many of the villagers say that they have voted for BJP, and primarily Modi as PM. They are hoping for justice in land matters, and for jobs for the Village youth. They are very clear that Wazirabad would never go the way of Dundahera and Nathupur Villages, where over-population has turned these villages into urban ghettos - with little infrastructure and a total lack of space. “This Village has managed to keep its identity quite intact, and we plan to keep it that way,” asserts Yadav.
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