Gurgaon
Information about Gurgaon city and places around Gurgaon India and NCR.

Year 2010 has seen advent of Metro Rail in Gurgaon. With metro in Gurgaon the city has got its first public transport system in place. The connectivity of Gurgaon to adjoining cities like Delhi, Faridabad, and NOIDA has immensely improved after the arrival of metro. It’s a boon for people who travel everyday to and fro from Gurgaon to attend office.

The infrastructure of Gurgaon does not match with its tag of millennium city. Broken roads, heavily congested traffic, and law and order problems have marred this city badly. The most prominent issue facing Gurgaon is its lack of connectivity with Delhi and other adjoining cities. Apart from that the connectivity within Gurgaon is also very poor. In view of all this Gurgaon fails to project itself as a modern international city. But has metro brought significant changes to the city?

Here is how Gurgaon metro has made a difference:

1. The Central Secretariat (Delhi) – HUDA City Center (Terminus station in Gurgaon) has added approximately 3 lakh commuters using metro service.

2. The total time taken to travel between Connaught Place and HUDA City Center is 50 minutes as against one and a half hours by congested roads.

3. Although Gurgaon metro has not made much of a difference to the intra-city connectivity, the major areas like IFFCO Chowk, M G Road, are on the metro map making the connectivity slightly better.

4. The city life in Gurgaon has limited cultural and historical entertainment options. With the advent of metro in Gurgaon the residents readily travel to Dilli Haat, INA market, Qutub Minar, Pragati Miadan, and other prominent markets and spots of Delhi. The rush in Gurgaon metro on a weekend is a pointer to the fact that people love to travel by metro as compared to driving. It saves them from parking blues and long traffic jams.

5. People have got a safer mode of transport in the form of Metro. It’s much safer than travelling by cabs and buses driven by rash drivers. It’s a boon for women and senior citizens feeling unsafe on city roads.

Kriti Jha, a daily traveler to Gurgaon from Saket, says that the metro has turned to be a blessing. She has stopped driving and uses metro regularly. However, since her office is in Cyber Greens her actual woes start when she gets down from metro and travels till Cyber Greens.

Rickshaw pullers ask for as much as 100 bucks for a small distance of 3-4 kms. Apart from that the roads are jam packed and it takes her the same time to reach Cyber Greens from metro station as from Saket to Gurgaon.

Metro in Gurgaon is doing a good job but it’s not going to be very helpful for residents until the metro feeder service is more efficient. Moreover, Gurgaon infrastructure needs a major overhaul. Road conditions and better traffic management are two of the prominent areas that require immediate attention in the city.

But all said and done metro in Gurgaon is a very positive development and going to change the character of the city with passing time.

By Anthony James, DLF II, Gurgaon