'Brand Gurugram now a byword for garbage': Suhel Seth's scathing attack on city's crumbling infra

Author and entrepreneur Suhel Seth has criticised Gurugram, saying that the city, once synonymous with ultra-development, has now become a byword for garbage. In a post on Tuesday, Seth called for accountability, adding that the government has allowed this deterioration "with no shame and no remorse."

"Someone somewhere needs to be accountable: in one swift move, Brand Gurugram no longer stands for ultra development but has instead become a byword for garbage. Sad how the Government has let this happen with no shame and no remorse," he wrote on X.

Seth's comments come in the wake of increasing concerns about Gurugram's crumbling infrastructure and neglect by the local administration. Over the last few weeks, Seth has flagged the city's deteriorating condition. On Monday, he shared posts showing foreign nationals volunteering to clean garbage near Dronacharya metro station in Gurugram, highlighting the irony that it was not local residents or municipal workers taking action.

In a tweet, investment advisor Sunil Jhaveri wrote: "This is the most shameful sight on #Gurugram roads. Foreign nationals volunteering to clean up the garbage, which is the work of @MunCorpGurugram. Hope even #citizens of the city take note of this and stop dumping garbage on the streets of the city where they are living."

Last month, Seth described Gurugram as a city that "may house India's wealthiest and biggest firms, but its infrastructure is 'slumlike'.” Earlier this month, he criticised the poor state of civil engineering in India, particularly in the National Capital Region (NCR). "We have the worst civil engineers in India. Absolutely. We’ve obliterated the use of technology in civil planning and infrastructure. We have no care," he said. 

The marketing guru also drew a comparison with China's urban planning, recounting his visit to Beijing before the Olympics. "When we reached the airport, we saw 60% of it shuttered. I asked why. They said it was planned for 2040. In India, we still build using 1947 thinking," Seth remarked.

Seth continued his critique of Gurugram, stating that the city was built not through strategic policy vision but corporate spillover. "It didn’t grow because of Hindustan Lever. It grew because GE and Genpact came in first for back-office operations. The city boomed around that, not planning," Seth pointed out.