GMDA, MCG Flag Gaps in Park Night Lighting

GURUGRAM: Several large parks plunge into dark stretches after dusk, and civic agencies have now put repair timelines on the record after residents flagged missing lights and weak surveillance.

Leisure Valley Park in Sector 29, Tau Devi Lal Biodiversity Park and Aravalli Biodiversity Park are maintained by the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority. At Leisure Valley, pavement lights were working on a recent evening check, but garden pockets and the fountain area stayed poorly lit, and park lights came on only after 7pm even though sunset was around 6.15pm. At Tau Devi Lal, several stretches were inadequately lit. At Aravalli Biodiversity Park, the entrance and front section were brighter, while residents said the rear remained dark and noted a broken stretch of boundary wall.

What officials said

GMDA media adviser Ranbir Singh Sangwan said teams would inspect all three parks and replace non-functional lights. Some lamps were recently changed at Tau Devi Lal but may not be working, he said, and the agency would also look at switching lights on earlier if needed.

Municipal parks tell a similar story. Kush Dutta, general secretary of the South City-1 residents' welfare association, said the colony has around 75 parks but night lighting works in only a few, and main parks lack CCTV. Bhawani Shankar Tripathi, a Sector 23A resident, said the 15-acre Janam Diwas Park has no CCTV and needs stronger night security. DD Sharma, former Sector 56 RWA president, said Smriti Park in Sector 54 has lighting only in limited patches. Chaitali Mandhotra of Ardee City said most of the colony's roughly 40 parks stay dark after sunset.

Sachin Yadav, executive engineer (electrical) at the Municipal Corporation, said a work order has been issued to repair and replace park lights across sectors, with a four-to-five-month window. For evening walkers, that is a calendar, not an overnight fix. Until lamps and cameras catch up, families who already avoid darker corners after dusk are unlikely to change their route on a promise alone.

Park lighting failures also feed into how women and children time their evening walks. Several residents told civic staff they leave before dark because darker corners attract drinking and other anti-social use. GMDA's promise to inspect the three large parks and MCG's four-to-five-month work order are parallel tracks: one for destination parks that draw citywide footfall, and one for the smaller sector greens that RWAs manage day to day. Until both tracks deliver working lamps, the after-dusk map of usable parks will stay uneven across Leisure Valley, South City-1, Sector 23A and Ardee City alike.