As companies put up glitzy boards and promotional hoarding, residents have watched in horror as the strain of this development begins to affect their lives.

DLF Phase-II is an area which has been heavily impacted due to the heavy increase in traffic as a result of the growth of Cybercity and other commercial space across Gurgaon.

According to Laxmi Gupta, a resident of DLF Phase-II, "there is a traffic jam outside our house at peak times caused by the call centre cabs, which use the arterial roads within the colony to avoid the long snarls on main roads."

She says they have been experiencing power cuts for as long as 10-12 hours in winter along with an expense of Rs 350-500 every week for water tankers. "There appears to be little relation between the prices of real estate and the quality of living on offer," adds Gupta.

Residents around Cybercity say they have been living in the midst of a haze of dust due to unplanned and haphazard construction around them.

Atika Malik, JWT's senior vice-president and executive planning director, recalls that before the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway started functioning, reaching her office in Udyog Vihar could take up to an hour.

Finally, the prime developers have no choice but to sit up and take notice following the clamour of discontent.

With the state government facing allegations of being unaware of or disinterested in improving infrastructure, large developers like DLF have started to act seriously to ensure that tenants, clients and residents don't flee the city, which appears to be crumbling under the weight of its own growth.

While the commercial buildings are powered by huge diesel generator sets being run by the developers (DLF says it will generate around 125-150 Mw yearly to provide uninterrupted power supply to its tenants), DLF is working with the Haryana government to provide back-up facilities in the various residential phases.

DLF Commercial's Chairman AS Minocha says that tenants have underestimated the demand for proper parking system and, therefore, the area has remained congested. With almost no public transport in the city, it's no wonder that almost all commuting to the city and within it have to rely on their own transport.

To ease matters, DLF is spending Rs 550 crore on an extension of the proposed metro connectivity by 4 km that will offer stops to the main buildings in Cybercity, the special economic zone, and the Mall of India, India's largest retail mall.

Minocha says that this will ease the congestion once the metro service starts functioning. DLF also says it is planning to widen roads of the commercial hubs at its own expense. For this purpose, it has hired a London-based consultancy firm.

But residents feel the developers are doing too little, too late. They argue though the developers promise a lot initially, they take little interest after selling the apartments. Though prices of the apartments have, in many cases, risen almost tenfold, few see that as compensation for the extremely poor quality of living.

Says Jyoti Bhargava, resident of Greenwood city, built by Unitech: "We often wonder what we are doing in Gurgaon. Most of my husband's work is in Delhi. We have no power. Due to the massive growth in the volume of traffic, it's a challenge to travel. Besides, there is no public transport."

Unless matters improve, DLF and other large developers may find less and less takers for their dream city.

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