Gurugram, which is a prominent city of Haryana, is considered to be one of the most influential places in North India. It has become real estate hub and a centre for corporate houses that have been providing lucrative job offers over the past decade. A large population from tier-II and tier-III cities is moving towards Gurugram due to the employment opportunities and other available facilities. With the State Government developing the city as a Smart City, it has led to the rapid development of projects, writes Priyanka Sharma of Elets News Network (ENN).
The current population of Gurugram is estimated to be close to 2.5 million and is expected to grow to 4.3 million by 2020. As the industrial and financial centre of Haryana, this city has witnessed the third largest increase in per capita incomes in India (after Chandigarh and Mumbai). Almost 45-48 per cent of Haryana’s revenue accrues from Gurugram by way of excise duty, sales tax, stamp duty and registration. This is the hub of the prolific and massive real estate development that is happening in the State today.
Although Chandigarh is the capital of Haryana and Punjab, Gurugram is considered to be the second capital of the State. Over the years, the Government has targeted Gurgaon as a city for attracting global investors and domestic capitalists over Chandigarh. Gurugram, earlier known as Gurgaon, may not have made it to the Smart Cities list of the Centre, but still is making itself smart in line with the vision of the Government of Haryana.
Some of the projects where Gurugram has made a mark are:
WASTE MANAGEMENT For effective waste management in Gurugram, foundation stones for 11 solid waste transfer stations were laid by the Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar recently.
The stations will serve as temporary waste centres where the waste collected from households will be kept till it is transferred to Bandhwari for further processing.
Residents will be required to segregate waste at source into two separate bins, categorised as dry and wet waste. They can even check the arrival time of garbage vans through an app.
The State has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ecogreen Energy Private Ltd to develop Haryana’s first integrated solid waste management project.
“We have signed an agreement with the Ecogreen company, selected through a global tender. They now collect door-to-door garbage and convert it into compost and also waste-to-energy. They will install a power plant there. Less than 10 per cent inert is used for the landfill. This is all in compliance with the Supreme Court order,” said Narhari Banger, Additional Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram while speaking to ENN.
SMART SECURITY The Gurgaon Metropolitan Development Authority will install more CCTVs for enhanced security and better traffic management.
The Rs 40 crore project will be implemented in the next two years. The city currently has around 60,000 CCTV cameras and they, too, will be part of the project.
The CCTV feed will be monitored at the Police Commissioner’s office and can be utilised by all the Gurugram departments.
As a part of the project, 61 CCTV cameras have been installed in Old Gurgaon at 15 points between Sector 4/7 Chowk and Sadar Bazaar.
Residents of Gurugram can utilise the control room through “Emergency Communication Box”, in case of an emergency. There is also a provision to track criminals who try to harm the cameras.
“The Gurugram administration has opened a single window system for all clearances and approvals for a subsidy, net metering etc at the Renewable Centre in Leisure Valley, in Sector 29.”
SMART TRANSPORT The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has forwarded its report to the 
Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation (HMRTC), to expand the metro route from HUDA City Centre to Dwarka Sector 21.
Gurugram Rapid Metro is also expanding. Work is in progress for the second phase of Gurugram’s Rapid Metro from Sikandarpur metro junction to Gurgaon Sector 56.
Fulfilling their promise of Smart transport in Gurugram, a special app is being designed for Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway.
There is an opportunity in short travel distances that makes this city walkable and cycle-friendly. This strength needs to be leveraged. The maximum daily trip length is less than 5 km, as per the Integrated Mobility Plan for Gurgaon.
A bicycle sharing system will soon start in the Millenium city. China-based start-up Mobike will soon launch an app-based bicycle sharing service in the city.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Mobike and DLF Foundation, the project will start from Golf Course Road. The bicycles made by Mobike will have built-in GPS technology so that they can easily be tracked.
The company will launch nearly 5,000 bicycles on Gurgaon roads.
HOUSING AND INFRASTRUCTURE To protect homebuyers rights, Haryana has implemented Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Act (H-RERA). Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has also launched the door-to-door tax collection service for its citizens.
“We have started door-to-door payment collection in collaboration with the ICICI bank. Residents can pay the property tax and utility bill at the click of a button by sitting at the comfort of their homes,” Om Prakash Sharma, Chief Accounts Officer, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram.
Detailed Project Reports of every area can be accessed through MCG website. No Objection Certificate for Fire and Emergency services can also be obtained online. It also provides a facility for online approvals of building plans. Any change or correction in Property Tax records can be done online.
Marriages can be registered online too. MCG has started an online system to grant permissions, approvals and monitoring of outdoor advertisements. Trade licenses are issued online. Gurugram Police recently started Project Jagruk with the help of Home Credit India Finance Pvt. Ltd to create awareness amongst the police personnel on cybercrime and financial frauds.
“The State has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ecogreen Energy Private Ltd to develop Haryana’s first integrated solid waste management project.”
SMART GRID FOR SMART GURUGRAM Gurugram is aiming at the 24×7 uninterrupted power supply to consumers.
The city wants to make itself a diesel generator-free city, and for that, the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has launched a Smart Grid Project for the Millennium City.
The project, at a cost of Rs 1,600-crore, will reduce AT&C (Aggregate Technical & Commercial) losses and overhead cost.
The grid is integrated with the latest technology and it also ensures consumer participation.
In phase 1, all the overhead 11 kV lines will be converted to underground except wherever it is not feasible.
There are also plans to lay optical fibre so that internet connectivity can be made possible.
SMART ENERGY The energy roadmap for Gurugram needs to progressively increase the share of renewable energy resources and generation. Harayana is gearing up to contribute to India’s ambitious target of generating 175 gigawatts of solar power by 2022, and Gurugram is in a position to leverage the state level policies to scale up an application and make more off-grid solutions possible. The plummeting cost curve of solar power generation is an opportunity. As energy demand and consumption grows steadily in the city, increased share of solar power will not only de-carbonise energy but also reduce toxic pollution from power generation. Haryana gets a high-intensity solar radiation for 320 days in a year; the state’s overall solar potential is 4.5 GW.
The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram is also undertaking LED streetlighting project worth Rs 50 crore. The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) will replace more than 48,568 streetlights by LED this year, which in the tun, will save 11 million units per year for Gurugram.
Under the New Solar Policy of 2016, Haryana has set itself a target of a solar renewable purchase obligation (solar RPO) which would be scaled up from the current 0.25 per cent to at least 8 per cent by 2021-22. The solar capacity target is 3,200 MW by 2021-22 — of this, 1,600 MW will be from rooftop solar.
The policy encourages setting up solar plants on barren panchayat lands and on canals, enabling mechanisms for off-grid solar applications, creating a green energy fund and facilitating wheeling of solar through utilities. The scaling up of solar power generation will happen in diverse ways.
Haryana’s solar initiatives are spearheaded by the Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (Hareda). Currently, the State’s solar power installed capacity is about 25 MW through rooftops and small solar power projects.
Haryana is the second State after Tamil Nadu to have mandated the use of solar by buildings of and beyond 500 square yards.
Recently, a new solar policy has been unveiled. Net metering has been operationalised and the local administration has launched a ‘single-window’ for all clearances and approvals for solar PV and solar thermal. Research and development on solar power is being done at the Gurgaon National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE).
In Gurugram, 17 MW of solar rooftops have been installed without subsidy, while 1 MW has been installed with subsidy. Gurugram district has been allocated a large target for providing subsidy to the tune of 11 MW till March 2017 for grid-connected rooftop systems.
The subsidy will be 30 per cent of the project cost or Rs 20,000 per kW, whichever is less. Haryana has put in place all the elements to operationalise net metering. The net metering regulations from Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) were issued in November 2014 and were further fine-tuned in July 2015.
“Haryana’s solar initiatives are spearheaded by the Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (Hareda). Currently, the State’s solar power installed capacity is about 25 MW through rooftops and small solar power projects.”
Net metering ensures that consumers can become power exporters by installing net meters at their premises and exporting surplus power to the grid – this enables them to get a discount on their power bill (after offsetting exported units) from the Dakshin Haryana Bidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd (DHBVNL).
The Gurugram administration has opened a single window system for all clearances and approvals for subsidy, net metering etc at the Renewable Centre in Leisure Valley, in Sector 29.
The application for subsidy, net meters etc can be made online. As per the policy, the electricity generated from such systems will be cumulatively adjusted at 90 per cent of the electricity consumption during the financial year.
In February 2016, Gurugram completed net metering of a 10-kWp rooftop grid-connected SPV power plant at Rajiv Gandhi Renewable Energy Park. In addition, in 2015-16, an incentive at 25 paise per unit was also provided on bills on the solar power thus generated.
Several policy initiatives are in place – what is now needed is a time-bound implementation plan. The optimistic sign is that increasingly, solar photovoltaics are getting cheaper for large-scale deployment.
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