Well Known Gurgaon-based Environmentalist, Latika Thukral

Latika Thukral is a name well known among environmentalists. She co-founded the non-profit organisation Iamgurgaon in 2008 with two other women. She had previously worked for Citibank for 18 years before quitting to spend more time with her two sons and pursue her ambition of founding an NGO to help Gurgaon, where she had lived for the previous 16 years, become a better place. The “Iamgurgaon” project aims to provide a platform that will let Gurgaon residents strive to enhance every area of living in the Millennium City. The NGO has been actively collaborating with Gurgaon’s RWAs and municipal organisations. “Iamgurgaon” seeks to find initiatives and actively collaborate with the regional government and Gurgaon-based corporations.

IAmGurgaon was founded around 11 years ago, and at that time, Latika was a Senior Vice President at Citibank at the time. Her children were 10 and 12 at the time, so she took a break from work to be with them. She was exhausted from work and became aware that she wasn’t spending any time at home. Additionally, there was nowhere to actually unwind in the neighbourhoods. In Gurgaon, there wasn’t much room to live without spending money. Additionally, there were no easily accessible open areas for strolling or resting for the elderly. This is what led her to start the venture IAmGurgaon.

On Republic Day in 2010, she was given a commendation by the Haryana government for her contributions. In order to restore a forest on 550 acres of MCG property, “Iamgurgaon” has been collaborating with the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon to create the Aravalli Biodiversity Park. Another NGO project involves planting a million trees in Gurgaon, of which 40,000 have already been done. This campaign has received a lot of support from Gurgaon-based corporations.