The demolition machines are back in DLF Phase 3, sitting on the edge of Gurgaon’s gleaming Cyber City – reopening an old urban battle over who the neighbourhood is really meant to serve.On one side are homeowners who say their once orderly plotted neighbourhood has been transformed into a maze of seven-to-eight-storey illegal commercial tenements, paying guest facilities and choked sewers. On the other are landlords and property owners who argue that the neighbourhood has become an indispensable affordable housing hub for the corporate workforce of Cyber City and Udyog Vihar.The resumption of the enforcement drive by the Department of Town and Country Planning’s (DTCP) brought the fault line into sharp focus. On Tuesday, officials sealed four large multi-storey properties, including a 28-room PG allegedly operating from premises owned by a local councillor and demolished illegal structures carved out of stilt parking spaces.The protestThe conflict spilled onto the streets on Wednesday, when hundreds of landlords and property owners gathered at Amar Shaheed Raja Rao Tularam Park for a Maha Panchayat. They urged the Haryana government to frame a pragmatic workforce-housing policy instead of relying on demolitions.“Cyber City employs lakhs of people and an overwhelming proportion relies on accommodation in DLF-3,” said social activist Sube Singh Bohra, who is leading the representation.“If these buildings are sealed and razed without providing viable alternatives, where is this workforce supposed to live? If policies can be repeatedly modified to accommodate large commercial developers, why cannot the government frame a workable rental housing policy for local property owners?”Bohra announced that the campaign would escalate with a demonstration outside the Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner’s office on August 26.Landlords’ argumentStory continues below this adAccording to the landlords and property owners, DLF Phase 3 serves as the primary residential catchment for thousands of entry- and mid-level corporate professionals, BPO employees, gig workers, and retail staff.Many maintained that such enforcement drives risks triggering an acute rental crisis.“Razing a structure takes only an hour with an earthmover, but building one takes decades of savings,” said a local property owner. “Many owners are already voluntarily removing non-compliant partitions. There must be a mechanism for regularisation and compounding charges where feasible. Evictions and demolitions cannot be the long-term answer to Gurgaon’s housing shortage.”Residents hit backFor long-time residents who have built standard independent houses, however, the DTCP action offers relief.Story continues below this ad“Of the roughly 5,000 plots in DLF Phase 3, more than 2,200 have major, blatant illegal constructions – and that does not even include minor infractions,” said Sameer Puri, a resident and petitioner before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.“Over 70% of DTCP-governed properties here violate basic norms. What was planned as an orderly residential sector has been systematically destroyed,” he added.Puri pointed to a rampant practice where developers secure an Occupation Certificate (OC) for a sanctioned stilt-plus-four-floor layout, only to immediately wall off parking bays and erect additional floors.“Seven of 10 buildings around us are running as commercial guest houses and mega-PGs with 40 to 70 rooms,” Puri said. “Loud music plays all the time. The heavy load from dozens of commercial ACs and thousands of extra occupants has caused the water and sewage networks to collapse. Dirty water routinely spills onto the streets.”The commercialisation, residents said, has also crippled mobility.Story continues below this ad“I bought a residential plot to live peacefully and not inside a shopping mall,” Puri said.“Hawkers take over roads, while gig economy bikes and cabs remain parked across driveways. We cannot even park our own cars outside our gates,” he added.He dismissed calls for regularisation. “They build eight-storey commercial set-ups for rental profit and then plead helplessness. Can an intentional illegality of this scale be justified? It has become unsafe for women and families to even walk outside – today, even Chandni Chowk feels more manageable. These operators don’t pay maintenance and don’t care about the neighbourhood,” Puri added.The latest drive The confrontation followed Tuesday’s enforcement operation led by District Town Planner (Enforcement) Amit Madholia. DTCP teams sealed four major commercial establishments, including the 28-room PG, a 10-room guest house operating a basement laundry and a 36-room complex on Maulsari Avenue.Story continues below this adThe teams tore down an unauthorised 500 sq m conversion inside the stilt parking area, which had been turned into a bar, projector theatre and extra rooms. The squad also cleared encroachments across a 1.5-km road right-of-way, demolishing four guard cabins on public land.