Nagpur: With the BRICS transport ministers’ meeting beginning on Thursday, authorities have launched a frantic citywide facelift, fixing potholes, repairing streetlights, repainting dividers, washing statues and clearing stretches ignored for months. It’s deja vu for citizens who saw the same drill ahead of the C20 Summit Nagpur hosted 3 years ago.Over past few days, civic agencies have launched intensive beautification work along routes marked for movement of BRICS delegates. The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is removing encroachments, cleaning medians, trimming overgrown vegetation, washing murals, cleaning statues and landscaping junctions, while damaged roads are being patched amid monsoon.Public Works Department (PWD) has taken up emergency repairs on stretches including bitumen patchwork on service roads along Wardha Road. MahaMetro has repainted faded dividers on Wardha Road and washed Metro piers amid heavy showers.Citizens say they can’t miss the irony. “Potholes that troubled commuters for weeks are being attended to overnight. Streetlights that remained non-functional despite complaints are suddenly illuminated. If this is what it takes, we would request ministers and VIPs to visit Nagpur every six months so that we get facilities that we, as taxpayers, are already paying for,” said Anjali Tambat, a citizen.The message is blunt, say citizens: The system can work when it wants to. It can mobilise workers, contractors, machinery and material within hours, and identify bad roads, dark stretches and dirty junctions without waiting for repeated complaints. “But this urgency surfaces only when foreign delegates are expected to pass by. For taxpayers who use these roads daily, the same speed is rarely seen,” said Akhil Kanitkar, another citizen. Once the C20 Summit events ended, landscaped stretches deteriorated, painted surfaces faded and several public spaces gradually returned to their earlier condition. Residents fear the BRICS preparations may follow the same script.A senior MahaMetro official told TOI, “During recent review meetings, it was decided to take up painting of dividers along Wardha Road as part of overall city upkeep ahead of BRICS Summit. Routine maintenance is carried out regularly, but with international delegates visiting, these works were prioritised, completed in time.”Citizens say the biggest test is not whether VIP routes look good for the summit. Real test is whether the same speed, maintenance and accountability survive after the motorcades leave, they say.
