Gurugram’s Never-Ending Civic Nightmare: French Expat Calls City ‘A Massive Landfield’
A French expatriate living in Gurugram (formerly known as Gurgaon) has sparked fresh outrage over the city’s deteriorating civic conditions with a strongly worded post on social media.
In her post on X (formerly Twitter), she described the Millennium City as “a massive landfield, unlivable, full of filths and broken pavements”, expressing despair at the state of sanitation, roads, and public management.
“Leaving #gurugram feels like the only wise option sometimes,” she wrote, lamenting how many expatriates have already chosen to return to Delhi or leave India altogether. “But what about those who are stuck here? Many feel doomed, condamned to live like animals in a pighouse,” she added, highlighting the sense of helplessness among long-term residents.
Her post went on to accuse local authorities of corruption and neglect. “Despair and anger are growing among #gurgaon people, who are wondering if their taxes have served to build someone else castle instead of bringing them a decent quality of life,” she wrote. Criticising the outdated infrastructure, she questioned how long the city would continue to use “middle age machines and wastes treatment systems” that pollute the environment and endanger both humans and animals.
The post comes amid renewed criticism of Gurugram’s civic state from high-profile residents, including former Jet Airways CEO Sanjiv Kapoor. In a separate series of posts, Kapoor earlier shared disturbing visuals of overflowing garbage and stray cattle in Sector 44. He called out the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram and other local officials, stating, “Months later, worse than ever before. Shame on you, @MunCorpGurugram @DC_Gurugram @cmohry no respect for the land, for tax-paying citizens, and not even for the cows! And you want to build a Disneyland in Haryana? Ludicrous!”
Kapoor even appealed directly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, invoking the Swachh Bharat Mission and urging urgent intervention. “@narendramodi ji, please do something! #SwachhBharat,” he wrote, sharing photos of cows lying in heaps of refuse and a Google Maps screenshot of the location.
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Citizens Question Priorities Amid 'Disneyland' Proposals
In a follow-up post, Kapoor criticised the administration’s emphasis on civic apps, arguing that authorities expect citizens to report obvious garbage while they themselves “drive around blindfolded.” His comments touched a nerve with local residents, many of whom flooded the thread with their own frustrations.
“Instead of marketing a 'Disneyland-style' amusement park to sell falling real estate, why can't they just take care of the existing city?” one user asked. Another added, “We’re not even asking for fancy development—just hire cleaners like before and keep Gurgaon clean.”
The French expat echoed a similar sentiment in her original post: “Do we really think that tourists will want to come here while having to walk in the filth and on dangerous roads? #gurgaon has become the hellish version of an aventure park.”
In her final remarks, she offered a grim warning: “Remember, the money is used for someone else castle. Or maybe for the future Disneyland?”
With citizen voices growing louder, the spotlight is once again on Gurugram’s civic authorities and their ability—or failure—to deliver on basic urban management.
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