Gurugram Needs a Metropolitan Planning Committee — Not Another Agency

 

Gurugram Needs a Metropolitan Planning Committee — Not Another Agency

By Gaurav Malik
President, Mission 7374 Foundation

Gurugram is no longer a peripheral city. It is a metropolitan region in its own right — economically powerful, demographically complex, and spatially expanding at extraordinary speed. Yet, despite this transformation, its governance architecture remains fragmented and structurally incomplete.

The Constitution of India anticipated this very situation. Under Article 243ZE — inserted through the 74th Constitutional Amendment — every metropolitan area with a population exceeding one million must constitute a Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC). Gurugram clearly meets this threshold. However, to date, it does not have a functioning MPC.

This absence is not a technical oversight. It is a structural gap.

The Current Governance Landscape of Gurugram

To understand why an MPC is necessary, we must first understand how Gurugram is presently governed.

Infrastructure responsibilities are divided as follows:

GMDA (Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority) handles external or trunk infrastructure — arterial roads, bulk water supply, trunk sewer lines, master stormwater drains, and certain mobility corridors.

MCG (Municipal Corporation Gurugram) manages internal infrastructure within municipal limits — local roads, distribution water lines, local sewer networks, and internal drainage.

MCM (Municipal Corporation Manesar) performs similar internal municipal functions in its jurisdiction.

PHED (Public Health Engineering Department) manages water supply in rural areas and smaller municipal committees within the district.

DHBVN controls electricity distribution.

HSVP oversees sector development and estate management.

NCRTC and NHAI manage regional transport corridors such as RRTS and expressways.

Each of these institutions operates within its own legal mandate, budget, and decision-making hierarchy. None operates within a unified metropolitan planning framework.

The result is predictable: fragmentation. Roads are constructed without integrated drainage alignment. Transit corridors are approved without synchronised land-use planning. Rural growth areas expand without trunk infrastructure sequencing. Accountability becomes diffused across agencies.

This is precisely the structural problem the Metropolitan Planning Committee was designed to address.

What Article 243ZE Requires

Article 243ZE mandates that:

Every metropolitan area must have an MPC.

At least two-thirds of its members must be elected representatives from municipalities and panchayats within the metropolitan area.

The MPC must prepare a draft development plan for the entire metropolitan region.

The draft plan is then forwarded to the State Government for consideration.

A common misconception is that because the plan is sent to the State Government, the MPC lacks decentralised authority. This interpretation misunderstands federal design. Decentralisation does not eliminate state oversight; it shifts the origin of planning. The drafting power lies at the metropolitan level, not exclusively within state bureaucracy or parastatal authorities.

Gurugram’s Metropolitan Composition

Gurugram district presents a uniquely complex metropolitan structure.

Urban Bodies:

Municipal Corporation Gurugram (MCG)

Municipal Corporation Manesar (MCM)

Municipalities: Sohna, Farrukh Nagar, Pataudi, Hailey Mandi

Rural Bodies:

As of February 2021, Gurugram district has 162 Gram Panchayats distributed across four blocks:

Pataudi: 73

Farrukh Nagar: 46

Sohna: 33

Gurugram: 10

Legislative Representation:

4 MLAs

1 Member of Parliament

This combination of high-density urban clusters and expanding rural belts makes integrated planning not merely desirable, but essential.

Proposed Composition of Gurugram MPC

A realistic and constitutionally compliant Gurugram MPC could comprise approximately 35 members.

1. Elected Representatives (Minimum Two-Thirds – 22 Members)

Urban Representation (14 Members)

Mayor, MCG

Mayor, MCM

6 Councillors from MCG (proportionate representation)

2 Councillors from MCM

1 each from Sohna, Farrukh Nagar, Pataudi, and Hailey Mandi municipalities

Panchayat Representation (8 Members)

Proportionate to block distribution:

3 from Pataudi Block

2 from Farrukh Nagar Block

2 from Sohna Block

1 from Gurugram Block

This ensures compliance with the two-thirds elected mandate.

2. Legislative Members (5 Members)

4 MLAs

1 MP

3. Agency Representation (5 Members)

CEO, GMDA

Commissioner, MCG

Commissioner, MCM

Representative from HSVP

Representative from PHED or DHBVN

4. Independent Experts (3 Members)

Urban Planning Specialist

Mobility/Transport Expert

Environmental/Climate Expert

Total: Approximately 35 members.

Ideally, the Chairperson should be an elected metropolitan representative, such as the Mayor of MCG, ensuring democratic legitimacy.

How the MPC Would Function

The MPC is not an execution agency. It is a planning and integration platform.

Quarterly Full Committee Meetings:

Approve metropolitan development framework

Review infrastructure alignment

Synchronise budgets across agencies

Monitor metropolitan growth patterns

Standing Sub-Committees:

Mobility & Transport

Water & Sewer Infrastructure

Land Use & Zoning

Environment & Climate Resilience

Finance & Budget Coordination

Permanent Secretariat:

Chief Metropolitan Planner

GIS and Data Integration Cell

Financial Analyst

Legal Officer

Without a professional secretariat, the MPC would become symbolic. With one, it becomes transformational.

Why MPC Is Not a Threat to GMDA

GMDA remains essential for trunk infrastructure execution. However, GMDA is a statutory authority chaired by the Chief Minister. It is executive-led.

An MPC, by contrast, is a constitutional body with a democratically anchored structure. The two serve different institutional purposes. GMDA executes. MPC integrates and plans.

They are complementary, not contradictory.

The Real Question

Gurugram has grown beyond the administrative models of the 1990s. It now requires metropolitan governance architecture capable of aligning:

Trunk and internal infrastructure

Rural and urban expansion

Mobility and land use

Climate resilience and water systems

Fiscal planning and spatial planning

Without an MPC, metropolitan planning continues to originate from fragmented agencies. With an MPC, planning originates from a constitutional metropolitan platform.

The choice before us is not between authority and no authority. It is between fragmented authority and integrated governance.

Gurugram deserves governance architecture equal to its ambition.

The Constitution has already provided the framework. It is time we operationalise it.