Speaking on the occasion, Mr Satyaprakash said he and the current government in the state is all for empowerment of the RWAs. He asked a core group of Gurgaon RWAs to suggest amendment in the laws governing the RWAs. There are two broad acts that govern RWAs- the Haryana Apartment Ownership Act ( for apartments) and the Society Registration Act ( for colonies), but there could be a possibility to have RWAs registered under a single Act.

He assured the house that he can forward the suggestions to the state government for action. He talked about the delays in taking over of some of the colonies of Gurgaon by MCG as the builders have not submitted completion certificates. Nevertheless, he said that MCG will not wait. Citing an example, he said MCG will undertake repairing the roads of Sushant Lok immediately. He informed the house that the water-logging on July 27, 28 in Gurgaon was due to the creation of box drains. He also informed the house that cases of Dengue were less in Gurgaon than last year due to proactive steps by the administration. He also talked about the increased use of IT in mapping Gurgaon including LIDAR (Light detection and Ranging) for urban topography mapping that was being undertaken by MCG as a pilot study. Lastly, he mentioned the use of improved tendering systems by MCG for giving out civic contracts.

The workshop had two sessions:

Key Issues and Priorities

Best Practices for Common Good.

The speakers in the workshop were Mr T L Satyaprakash, Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon and Commissioner, MCG,Ashutosh Dikshit, CEO, United RWAs Joint Action, Delhi, BrigSKS Rana, President, RWA – Sector 43, Gurgaon, Mr Sanu Kapila, President, Nirvana RWA, Richard Sequeira, Member, Sushant Lok RWA, Manish Bharati, Country-Director, Dehtlet, (Eco Toilets), Neeharika Nandyal, Sampoorn Zero Waste, Sanjeev Kapoor, Co-founder, Social Curry, Deen Mohammad Khan, District Horticulture Officer, Gurgaon.

Mr Ashutosh Dikshit, CEO Urja an umbrella body for 2,500 RWAs in Gurgaon talked about common constitution for all RWAs, a structured consultative mechanism and involvement of the “ward committees’ in governnance. He said that RWAs have a critical role to play in last mile governance. Mr Sequeira talked about importance of ensuring implementing of the RWA acts as well as the need for increasing role of women in RWAs.

Several RWAs registered their complaints about encroachments of green belts, streetlights, inflated electricity bills, crumbling infrastructure, and all the complaints were noted by the administration.

“The Conclave has come at an “opportune” time – the MCG is committed to taking over builder and HUDA colonies and therefore will have to work more closely with the RWAs. The MCG cannot do it all, so the RWAs need to build capacities and feel empowered to manage their colonies and condos better.”” said Shubhra Puri, Founder, Gurgaon First.

The workshop was sponsored by Dehtlet (a Hong-kong based Bio Toilets firm) and Sampoorna Zero Waste a Gurgaon based company that offers waste solutions.