‘We have more liquor vends than traffic lights’: Suhel Seth calls Gurugram a national shame

Gurugram’s crumbling infrastructure, political apathy, and civic failures have drawn sharp criticism from businessman and columnist Suhel Seth, who described the city as a “national shame” and urged Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor to step in and restore order through a “non-hostile takeover.”

Speaking at an Indian Express event, Seth denounced Gurugram’s governance, highlighting its chaotic urban sprawl, poor public services, and absence of accountability. “We have more liquor vends than functioning traffic lights. More bars than schools,” he said, slamming the local administration.

His remarks come in the wake of a deadly two-hour downpour earlier this month that killed at least eight people in Gurugram due to electrocution, open manholes, drowning, and road accidents. The city, marketed as India’s “Millennium City,” came to a standstill, with widespread flooding, traffic paralysis, and overflowing sewage lines exposing deep flaws in its infrastructure.

Seth pointed to the irony of calling Gurugram a smart city while basic services remain dysfunctional. “You can’t have smart cities with unsmart leaders,” he said.

Former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant backed Seth’s criticism, pointing out that Gurugram contributes more tax to the Haryana government than all other cities combined. “If you can’t maintain Gurugram, it’s a massive failure of governance,” Kant said.

Seth later revealed on X (formerly Twitter) that he received calls from Haryana officials after his remarks. “Credit where credit is due,” he wrote, noting that both Rajeev Jaitly and Pradeep IAS contacted him to confirm that CM Nayab Saini had taken note and that action was underway.

Still, the optics remain grim. The July rain deaths and flooded roads have intensified scrutiny on the city’s civic failure. For many residents, the collapse of Gurugram is no longer a seasonal inconvenience—it’s a recurring indictment of a city built on real estate dreams but drowned in neglect.