InfoAnda - Dry taps and open sewers: welcome to India's Millennium City |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Yemen opposition hands Saleh transition road map | | 2 March 2011
Malaysia says press incited 'hatred' for govt | 24 March 2009
Home of second 'Slumdog' child star demolished | 21 May 2009

Parties jostle as vote polls point to hung parliament | 26 April 2010

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Dry taps and open sewers: welcome to India's Millennium City |

Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Home Business Business Home Economy Technology Media Small Business Legal Deals Earnings Social Pulse Business Video The Freeland File Markets Markets Home U.S. Markets European Markets Asian Markets Global Market Data Indices M&A Stocks Bonds Currencies Commodities Futures Funds peHUB World World Home U.S. Brazil China Euro Zone Japan Mexico Russia India Insight World Video Reuters Investigates Decoder Politics Politics Home Election 2012 Campaign Polling Tales from the Trail Political Punchlines Supreme Court Politics Video Tech Technology Home MediaFile Science Tech Video Tech Tonic Social Pulse Opinion Opinion Home Chrystia Freeland John Lloyd Felix Salmon Jack Shafer David Rohde Bernd Debusmann Nader Mousavizadeh Lucy P. Marcus David Cay Johnston Bethany McLean Anatole Kaletsky Edward Hadas Hugo Dixon Ian Bremmer Lawrence Summers Susan Glasser The Great Debate Steven Brill Jack & Suzy Welch Frederick Kempe Christopher Papagianis Mark Leonard Breakingviews Equities Credit Private Equity M&A Macro & Markets Politics Breakingviews Video Money Money Home Tax Break Lipper Awards 2012 Global Investing MuniLand Unstructured Finance Linda Stern Mark Miller John Wasik James Saft Analyst Research Alerts Watchlist Portfolio Stock Screener Fund Screener Personal Finance Video Money Clip Investing 201 Life Health Sports Arts Faithworld Business Traveler Entertainment Oddly Enough Lifestyle Video Pictures Pictures Home Reuters Photographers Full Focus Video Reuters TV Reuters News Article Comments (0) Slideshow Full Focus Editor's choice A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. See more Images of June Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Mormons quit church in mass resignation ceremony 30 Jun 2012 Three central banks take action in sign of alarm 3:29pm EDT Judge who shelved Apple trial says patent system out of sync 8:42am EDT In California, immigration bill designed as the "anti-Arizona" 04 Jul 2012 Japan's atomic disaster due to "collusion:" panel report 1:55pm EDT Discussed 255 In California, immigration bill designed as the ”anti-Arizona” 115 Insight: ”Green Fleet” sails, meets stiff headwinds in Congress 105 Scientists to unveil milestone in Higgs boson hunt Watched Scientists see dengue cure with antibody discovery 11:07am EDT Turkey releases new images of downed plane 1:35pm EDT 3XSQ: China cuts, BOE stimulus, ECB cuts 9:59am EDT Pictures Reuters Photojournalism Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption Arafat's Legacy A look at the life and legacy of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Slideshow Space odysseys From the scientists on the ground to stunning views from space, a look at man's continuing exploration into the final frontier. Slideshow Dry taps and open sewers: welcome to India's "Millennium City" Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Insight: Peru provinces sit on cash from mines; discontent grows Thu, Jun 14 2012 Analysis & Opinion Pakistan apology deal incidental to real problem of its support for terrorists Escaping Toronto: The hassles of traveling with gear Related Topics World » Lifestyle » 1 of 5. An auto rickshaw driver waits for the passengers to board, in front of an illuminated commercial complex at Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi June 17, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Ahmad Masood By Annie Banerji GURGAON, India | Thu Jul 5, 2012 5:19pm EDT GURGAON, India (Reuters) - Sarika Kapoor lives in a spacious home in one of the wealthiest cities in India. But something as simple as having a shower is fraught with problems. Most days there is just a trickle of water from the taps and sometimes even that dries up before noon. The 56-year-old has often had to scurry to a neighbor across a potholed road to borrow a bucket of water and haul it back to her rented $300,000 home, sweat rolling down her face. "Every morning I have to decide whether I want the upper half of my body clean or my lower half. With the amount of water we get, it's impossible to take a full-body bath," Kapoor said, sitting in her large, well-lit living room. Welcome to Gurgaon, a city of wealthy urban professionals with gleaming shopping malls, five-star hotels and sprawling golf courses on the southern outskirts of New Delhi that is a symbol of newly affluent India. But crippling power and water shortages, crater-riddled roads and open sewage drains have made it an extreme example of the poor infrastructure that is constraining growth in Asia's third-largest economy. "Gurgaon is just a symbol of beautiful buildings. Otherwise it's rubbish," said P.K. Jain, the founder-president of the Gurgaon Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "Ultimately, the town is going to collapse." Alongside the towering residential condominiums are glass and steel office blocks. The India offices of some of the world's best known companies are here, including Microsoft Corp, Google Inc. and agribusiness giant Cargill Inc. But public infrastructure has failed to keep pace with the rapid growth unleashed by landmark economic reforms in 1991. The provision of essential services is so bad that many companies and residents rely on expensive diesel generators to beat power cuts, pay private water tankers to deliver door-to-door when the taps run dry. But demand outstrips supply, and with long power outages of up to eight hours a day, even well-off citizens are sometimes forced to have dinner by candlelight. This week, residents erupted in anger over the lack of water and power during the hottest summer in the region for three decades. They took to the streets in protest and set tires on fire to block traffic. Nevertheless, Gurgaon has some of the fastest growing property prices in the world, with rates for some upscale homes nearly doubling to 21,000 rupees ($380) a square foot in 2011 from about 11,000 rupees in 2008, according to a report by Citibank. At current prices, a 2,000 square foot apartment in those areas would cost $760,000. At the very top end, huge 5,500 square foot apartments set around a golf course sell for about $3 million. TWO CITIES Like many other Indian cities, Gurgaon is made up of two parts. The highway to New Delhi separates the new from the old, which is still a traditional market town serving farmers in the region. The new Gurgaon shot up out of farmland two decades ago, mainly to cater to the overflowing population of the nearby capital. It is now India's third-wealthiest city by per-capita income, and its population has climbed to more than 1.5 million from just 900,000 in 2001. Gurgaon has also become one of the hubs for the IT and outsourcing boom that drove India's economic growth from the 1990s, giving it the name "Millennium City". Experts say the boom caught local authorities unawares, and they did not plan adequately for the power and water needs of a rapidly expanding population. A company like DLF, which has been buying up chunks of land in Gurgaon since the 1970s to convert into residential compounds, commercial hubs and shopping centers, has set up its own private infrastructure network. Pockets of Gurgaon developed by DLF have their own back-up power plant, water recycling systems and solar power heating. "I don't think the government anticipated the level of growth or the problems that come with it and therefore, has no plan for it," Mohit Gujral, vice chairman and managing director of DLF India, told Reuters. "We are changing the urban landscape of the city because we have been allowed to get involved." DLF recently launched its own fire brigade equipped with Mercedes fire trucks imported from Finland. In a public-private partnership (PPP) with the state, it also started building a $100 million, 16-lane highway running through the city. Vishwas Udgirkar, a senior director at consultants Deloitte India, believes Gurgaon's good security, recreational centers, shopping areas, eateries and cinema complexes attract more people and companies to the city every year. "But come to the public infrastructure, it's pathetic," said Udgirkar, whose office is in the city. "In terms of governance, again it's pathetic. I don't know who would still call it ‘Millennium City'. It cannot be." WASTE NOT, WANT NOT This summer, with temperatures soaring to 47 degrees Celsius (117 F), Gurgaon residents grappled with the city's worst-ever power and water crisis as supplies fell to 15 percent of the normal volume. In the city, pigs wallowed in fetid bug-infested ponds to beat the heat as huge billboard advertisements promised condominiums with 24-hour electricity and "world-class" facilities. Every day, from the small hours of the morning to late in the night, residents uncoiled and hooked up water hoses linking private water tankers parked outside their homes to tanks inside, replacing the municipal water supply. Power supply has been similarly erratic. As has happened in much of India, red tape has held up coal supplies to power plants that supply Gurgaon's electricity. Technical glitches have caused more disruptions. In one of Gurgaon's most upscale neighborhoods, a row of cars, including two BMWs, glistens in the sun outside a three-storey bungalow. But Purushotam, the caretaker of the household, said on some days he barely got a full bucket of water to clean the luxury cars. "We don't have enough water to drink, how can we take elaborate baths and clean the cars? Water is like gold to us now," he chuckled. For the thousands of migrants eking out a living in Gurgaon, working at construction sites or as household servants, life is even tougher as they are priced out of basic services that the private sector provides. "The diesel generators are too expensive. And we don't even go to the air-conditioned malls for respite," said Naresh Kumar, who earns $150 a month as a water delivery man and says he cannot afford the fare to go to the city's shopping district. GURGAON, THE 'AMERICA' OF INDIA? Many of Gurgaon's problems - a lack of administrative will, shoddy infrastructure and a lackadaisical attitude to civic services - are reflected across India. Although the country has some state-of-the-art airports, multi-billion dollar national highways and a Formula One race track, much of its existing infrastructure has been unable to cope, and slums are mushrooming next to high-rises in its cities. Facing a barrage of criticism over his government's handling of the economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in June promised to help resuscitate the country's slumping growth by fast-tracking more than 200 key infrastructure projects. New Delhi hopes to invest $1 trillion to beef up India's infrastructure over the next five years. But the unleveled roads and heaps of garbage lying in the empty housing lots of Gurgaon reflect how far India has to go. "It is an unplanned city," said Abhaya Agarwal, a partner at Ernst and Young. "For now it's running on water tankers and generators but in the long run it is not good for the nation." He said that while privatized services are a short-term solution, the real answer to Gurgaon's mess is more PPP investment in infrastructure. Gurgaon's authorities acknowledge their failures but also blame the city's residents for wasting water, which - like many services in India - is heavily subsidized. "The problem is that people take water for granted," said Praveen Kumar, an administrator at the Haryana Urban Development Authority. "We as a city have to improve our systems and so does the government. There are many hiccups in every set-up." he said. Purushotam, the caretaker in the upscale neighborhood, says generators and water tankers are keeping the city on life support. "We moved to Gurgaon in 2005 thinking that this is the 'America of India'," he said. "But except the malls, not much is 'American' here." (Additional reporting by Aditi Shah in MUMBAI; Editing by Matthias Williams and Raju Gopalakrishnan) World Lifestyle Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Back to top Reuters.com Business Markets World Politics Technology Opinion Money Pictures Videos Site Index Legal Bankruptcy Law California Legal New York Legal Securities Law Support & Contact Support Corrections Connect with Reuters Twitter Facebook LinkedIn RSS Podcast Newsletters Mobile About Privacy Policy Terms of Use AdChoices Copyright Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance Our next generation legal research platform Our global tax workstation Thomsonreuters.com About Thomson Reuters Investor Relations Careers Contact Us Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Friday, 6 July 2012
Long road ahead in U.S.-Pakistan ties after NATO deal |
Final Mexican results confirming Pena Nieto win |
Nervous Libyans ready for first taste of democracy |
Left, right criticize Humala over deadly Peru clashes |
Dry taps and open sewers: welcome to India's Millennium City |
Morality killing triggers fears and debate in Egypt |
Exclusive: News Corp's Miller, Hulu's Kilar on Yahoo CEO list-sources |
Microsoft stumbles into crucial financial year |
Proxy advisor withholds support for RIM board member |
Galaxy to power record $5.9 billion profit, but Samsung sweats over euro |
Emulex to pay Broadcom fees in partial settlement |
Contest may send rapper Pitbull to Alaska Wal-Mart |
Will & Grace star returns to TV in Perception |
Tina Fey turns rapper for Childish Gambino |
Rihanna sues ex-accountants, says she lost millions |
MGM files to stop production of Raging Bull sequel |
UN urges countries to impose global taxes to boost aid |
Defection cheers anti-Assad coalition at Paris meet |
Mexican vote recount confirms Pena Nieto win |
Laos denies pushing ahead with controversial dam |
Key Argentine Dirty War figures jailed for baby thefts |
Myanmar detains Thai villagers in unclear border area |
Samsung's Galaxy powers record $5.9 billion profit; euro a worry |
Microsoft stumbles into crucial financial year |
U.S. online job demand rises in June |
Virus could black out nearly 250,000 PCs |
Yahoo CEO search down to Levinsohn, Hulu's Kilar |
Taiwan HTC Q2 net lags forecasts as smartphone sales sag |
Seagate sees revenue below estimates |
U.S. album sales slump, digital rises in first-half 2012 |
Actor Andy Griffith's death caused by heart attack |
Iran blames France, Germany for atomic scientist assassinations |
Nervous Libyans ready for first taste of democracy |
Analysis: Combative leader a mixed blessing for Mexico's Left |
Russia rights groups fear crackdown as law changes |
Former Baader-Meinhof gang member jailed over 70s murder |
Fair Gaddafi trial in Libya impossible: ICC lawyer |
Sudan police teargas protesters after prayers |
UN talks, water matter most to Cyprus: minister |
Seven arrested in British anti-terrorism raids |
Media, tech deals may make comeback at Sun Valley |
Judge approves Netflix privacy settlement |
Berenberg cuts Cognizant, VMware to hold |
Sandvine posts wider-than-expected loss |
U2 bassist PA sentenced to seven years in theft case |
Woman admits smashing Simon Cowell's window |
Russia musicians make anti-Putin protest White Album |
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01