'Corrupt babus, realtor nexus': Sushant Sareen backs right to sue city authorities as urban infra crumbles
'What we need is the right to sue city authorities for taking taxes and not delivering on their commitments,' says Sushant Sareen
- Jul 30, 2025,
- Updated Jul 30, 2025 1:38 PM IST
Security analyst Sushant Sareen has backed Suhel Seth's sharp criticism of India's urban decay, calling for legal accountability against civic bodies. "What we need is the right to sue city authorities for taking taxes and not delivering on their commitments," Sareen said in a post on X, joining a growing chorus over India’s worsening city infrastructure.
He added: "Nothing Suhel Seth is saying is rocket science. He is talking basic common sense and dropping some truth bombs on the scandalously poor urban infra and management of cities that generate wealth, and the shabby treatment people living in these cities receive at the hands of inefficient, corrupt, incompetent babus and netas who have a nexus with contractors and realtors."
The remarks come days after Suhel Seth unleashed a scathing attack on collapsing infrastructure and civic dysfunction in major Indian cities. "It is tragic that while many of us are working towards building brand India — corporates, citizens, governments — we have led ourselves to an era of unimaginable urban decay,” Seth said.
"Look at all our major cities. They are poster boys of the worst misery that you can inflict on a city. Our roads are dug up. The drainage is inadequate. Every year we know the monsoons will hit us and every year there is flooding. It seems no one cares."
Seth warned that India's global image was at stake. "When you see headlines in international newspapers saying that people couldn’t get to work because of floods, you begin to imagine — how is India talking about being the fourth largest economy, a $4 trillion economy in the future — when basic hygiene, basic infrastructure is so miserable?"
"These are hell holes," Seth said, naming Bombay, Gurugram, Madras, and Bangalore. "People don’t realize that because for a lot it’s comfortable and for a lot they’ve come to terms with this reality. But this reality must change because if this reality doesn’t change, the damage will be to brand India, the damage will be to our investment potential, and the damage will be to our reputation as a great nation."
He squarely blamed a "lack of political will, a lack of bureaucratic leadership, and at times citizen apathy.”
Earlier this week, speaking at an Indian Express event, Seth had described Gurugram as a “national shame” and called for a “non-hostile takeover” by Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor to rescue the city’s crumbling infrastructure. "We have more liquor vends than functioning traffic lights. More bars than schools," he said, slamming the local administration after the city came to a halt following a two-hour downpour that left eight dead due to electrocution, drowning, open manholes and road accidents.
Backing Seth's criticism, former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant added: "If you can’t maintain Gurugram, it's a massive failure of governance."
Security analyst Sushant Sareen has backed Suhel Seth's sharp criticism of India's urban decay, calling for legal accountability against civic bodies. "What we need is the right to sue city authorities for taking taxes and not delivering on their commitments," Sareen said in a post on X, joining a growing chorus over India’s worsening city infrastructure.
He added: "Nothing Suhel Seth is saying is rocket science. He is talking basic common sense and dropping some truth bombs on the scandalously poor urban infra and management of cities that generate wealth, and the shabby treatment people living in these cities receive at the hands of inefficient, corrupt, incompetent babus and netas who have a nexus with contractors and realtors."
The remarks come days after Suhel Seth unleashed a scathing attack on collapsing infrastructure and civic dysfunction in major Indian cities. "It is tragic that while many of us are working towards building brand India — corporates, citizens, governments — we have led ourselves to an era of unimaginable urban decay,” Seth said.
"Look at all our major cities. They are poster boys of the worst misery that you can inflict on a city. Our roads are dug up. The drainage is inadequate. Every year we know the monsoons will hit us and every year there is flooding. It seems no one cares."
Seth warned that India's global image was at stake. "When you see headlines in international newspapers saying that people couldn’t get to work because of floods, you begin to imagine — how is India talking about being the fourth largest economy, a $4 trillion economy in the future — when basic hygiene, basic infrastructure is so miserable?"
"These are hell holes," Seth said, naming Bombay, Gurugram, Madras, and Bangalore. "People don’t realize that because for a lot it’s comfortable and for a lot they’ve come to terms with this reality. But this reality must change because if this reality doesn’t change, the damage will be to brand India, the damage will be to our investment potential, and the damage will be to our reputation as a great nation."
He squarely blamed a "lack of political will, a lack of bureaucratic leadership, and at times citizen apathy.”
Earlier this week, speaking at an Indian Express event, Seth had described Gurugram as a “national shame” and called for a “non-hostile takeover” by Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor to rescue the city’s crumbling infrastructure. "We have more liquor vends than functioning traffic lights. More bars than schools," he said, slamming the local administration after the city came to a halt following a two-hour downpour that left eight dead due to electrocution, drowning, open manholes and road accidents.
Backing Seth's criticism, former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant added: "If you can’t maintain Gurugram, it's a massive failure of governance."