‘Forced out in hours’: Gurgaon’s sealing drive leaves tenants scrambling for housing

3 min readDelhiJun 26, 2026 12:39 PM IST

District Town Planning officials pasting the notice at a PG near Nathupur Road in DLF Phase 3. (source; Express Photo)

On June 19, Sanghamitra Pati, a 25-year-old marketing manager, was visiting her parents in Odisha when enforcement teams arrived at the building where she lived in Gurgaon’s DLF Phase 3 to seal it.

“My friends had to literally break the lock on my fully furnished apartment to rescue my clothes and critical documents before the premises were sealed,” she said, recounting the sheer panic.

Pati is among several young professionals and families hit hard by a sealing drive across residential areas in DLF Phases I to V that’s targeting unauthorised commercial accommodations.

On Thursday, a team of officials from the Gurgaon District Town Planner (Enforcement) went about pasting notices outside alleged illegal paying guest (PG) accommodations and guesthouses, and also slipped copies into the rooms of tenants.

A district town planning official pasting the notice in DLF Phase 2. (Express Photo)

The ‘Public Interest Advisory’ asks tenants to make alternative living arrangements. According to the public notice, the official deadline to secure new housing and avoid the inconvenience of the sealing action is June 30.

When the sealing drive began last Thursday, many tenants said they received sudden phone calls telling them to pack their belongings and vacate their homes within hours.

Four men working at a technology company, who did not wish to be named, said that their company does not have work-from-home.

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“We have to find a place soon, they should have told us sooner. We each pay over Rs 20,000 at least, including food, for a single room in our PG,” they said, bringing down their luggage from an accommodation on Siris Road.

The demographic of the tenants displaced extends well beyond young IT employees. “Families with toddlers and elderly parents had to leave their accommodation and shift to hotels. Most of the affected tenants are at work during the day,” said a guard outside a sealed property in DLF Phase 3.

Why the crackdown

The ongoing crackdown, led by District Town Planner (Enforcement) Amit Madholia, is based on directives from the Punjab and Haryana High Court aimed at curbing zoning violations and unauthorised commercial activities in residential areas.

In recent enforcement action at S Block on Nathupur Road, officials, accompanied by heavy police deployment, sealed 11 establishments.

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Madholia said the notices were issued beginning Wednesday as landlords had not conveyed the information to their tenants prior to the drive.

The drive targeted prominent properties like ‘Hotel Moonlight’ and ‘The Medicity’ hospital, alongside massive illegal PG facilities — including one spanning four floors with 72 rooms, and another operating 48 rooms out of a single apartment complex. Earthmovers were also deployed to raze illegal structures built in stilt parking spaces.

The DTCP’s advisory explicitly states that the department shall not be responsible for any loss or disruption caused to occupants. Madholia said the police will handle cases of deposits going unreturned and any landlord disputes.

Abhimanyu Hazarika is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Gurgaon. He covers southern Haryana.

Education

- Post-Graduate Diploma in Print Media, Asian College of Journalism (Class of 2020)

- B.A. (Hons) Liberal Arts with a major in Political Science, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts (Class of 2019)

Professional Experience

Before joining The Indian Express, he worked with Bar & Bench (legal journalism) and Frontline magazine, where he developed experience in court reporting, legal analysis, and long-form investigative features.

Reporting Interests

His work centres on civic accountability, environmental policy, urban infrastructure and culture, crime and law enforcement, and their intersections with politics and governance in and around Gurgaon.

Recent Coverage (2025)

- Crime: Reported on the recovery of 350 kg of explosives and an AK-47 from a rented house in Faridabad, linked to the 2025 Red Fort car explosion case (November 11, 2025).

- Environmental policy: Covered protests outside a Haryana minister’s residence against a Supreme Court order that environmentalists argue could allow mining and real estate development on large parts of the Aravalli hills (December 21, 2025).

- Pollution control measures: Co-authored coverage of the Rekha Gupta government’s enforcement of vehicle restrictions at Delhi-NCR borders (December 21, 2025).

- Road safety and infrastructure: Examined response lapses in the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway hit-and-run case and ongoing investigations into high-speed road crimes in Gurugram.

- Animal welfare policy: Reported on concerns regarding the low budget allocated for stray dog sterilization by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (November 30, 2025).

- Urban culture: Featured the social media-driven popularity of a new Magnolia Bakery outlet in Gurugram (December 15, 2025).

Contact

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paying guest