Maruti Suzuki’s first unit changed fortunes of Gurugram

GURUGRAM: The management of Maruti Suzuki, the

largest car maker in the country, has stated that it will shift its factory located in Old-delhi road because of the urban growth and traffic congestion the unit is causing.

The factory was the first unit to be set up for the leading car maker in the late 1970's that in coming years changed the fortunes of the city. The success of the unit not only spearheaded the real estate development in the city over the years but also made Gurugram the hub of auto ancillary units.

Even though the land was initially given to the car manufacturer under the Chief Ministership of Banarasi Das Gupta, the credit of awarding such a large amount of land goes to the then Defence Minister Bansi Lal. It is important to note that the land that is just a few kilometres from National Capital was given at a time when the then leader Sanjay Gandhi was harbouring the ambitions of developing the first people's car. Subsequently, in collaboration with the Japanese car manufacturer Suzuki, the land was acquired from the villagers. According to some, the land of the factory also belongs to the Indian Airforce that has also a large area of landholdings in the area.

For many villagers, around the first change that the factory brought was a sense of security. Even as the area was close to National Capital, for a long time a lot of commuters used to dread treading the route due to dacoities in and around the area.

The second major change that the factory brought was the coming of the industrial township Udyog Vihar. Divided into five phases, the area today provides employment to lakhs of people who come from as far as Western Uttar Pradesh to the city.

Seeing the success of industrial development around the area, most of the private developers also build the residential colonies like Palam Vihar. Not only private residential colonies but even Government sectors like Sector-14 and Sector 21 around the area today are listed among the poshest colonies of the city. From farmers who had large land holdings, most of the villagers also used these assets for setting up of automobile garages, marriage halls and leasing their land to commercial establishments to rake in moolah.

It was the success of its first factory that encouraged the management to open the second factory in Manesar in 2006. Seeing the impact of Maruti towards the development of Gurugram, the Haryana Government is also now planning to provide a large area of land in Sohna.