It is a city creaking under the weight of its own growth. And the appaling power situation is just one example of that. Clogged roads are another. The water table is fast depleting. Law and order is an area of concern. And then there is all the sub-city infrastructure -- sewerage, water drains, waste management -- which is far from model, if it exists at all.

Realty rates have shot up reflecting the huge gap between supply and demand. Every new project in the city means an additional load on the already stretched, and scant, infrastructure of the city, leading to some rather extreme suggestions from those who have already got a foot into Gurgaon.

"They should not allow any more investment for the next few years. The infrastructure cannot take it," says an agitated Mohit Jain, the past president of the Gurgaon Chamber of Commerce and Industry and director of the Gurgaon based The Malt Company (India) Ltd.

government, they are still waiting to see development beyond their immediate boundaries. "I see the city as a classic urban disaster," says TCA Srinivasa-Raghavan, a Business Standard columnist who is also associated with the Asian Institute of Transport Development.

This attitude reflects quite a U-turn for a city which has thrived on the growth and population spillover from Delhi. Part of the National Capital Region (NCR), Gurgaon evolved from an old economy style manufacturing hub (think Maruti) to a new economy suburb, exporting garments, software and services around the world.

It has become modern, younger and trendier (think malls), all thanks to private enterprise, and to realty developers like DLF, who have built islands of "excellence" for commercial and industrial users in an erstwhile village.

But they are just that -- islands! Despite the fact that developers have paid what are called external development charges to the state