While planning for various residential blocks of Gurgaon, the Town and Country Planning Department as the epitome of their visionary outlook, provided for community centres. These centres were envisaged to create community feelings in the residents and also to provide a space to residents for holding small celebrations, small functions like terhvi etc.
Such centres are functional in almost all sectors developed by HUDA and private builders.
For Sushant Lok I, developed by Ansals, one centre was planned for C Block and the other in proximity to B Block. Besides this, a sports area was also to be developed for children in the area.
The builder favoured their relatives and gave management rights to these community centres to them. In C Block, their relatives started giving rooms to visitors on rent just like any hotel without caring for its maintenance.
After the relatives managing the community centre in C Block were misusing the property, SLRWA struggled hard in the year 2008 to get rid of them and take over, but the maintenance and upkeep continue to be an issue.
The story of B block is grave, as the relatives of Ansals have got more or less the proprietorship right to run the place as a complete hotel in the name of a club with a swimming pool, gyms and restaurants. The rooms are hired out at daily charges equivalent to a five-star hotel to crew members of airlines.
Residents of the block are not even allowed to enter the centre. This is unfair and must be altered so that the centre serves its original purpose of serving community needs besides the development of a sports complex for the young generation.
by A K Jain (B 172 A Sushant Lok 1)
