Nagpur: A proposed sewage treatment plant (STP) at Chikhli Khurd, intended to reduce pollution in the Pora River, has run into legal trouble, delaying the project. Civic officials said the court’s ruling will determine the project’s future.The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is acquiring 31,025 sq m of private land to build a 35 million litres per day (MLD) STP that will treat wastewater from rapidly expanding residential areas in south Nagpur. The civic body has fixed Rs11.77 crore as compensation for the acquisition. However, the project stalled after one of the landowners challenged the acquisition process in the high court. Civic officials said the dispute dates back to 2015, when landowner Ganesh Sachyani wrote to the NMC’s town planning department seeking removal of the STP reservation from his land. He subsequently issued a notice under Section 127 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, which allows landowners to seek lapsing of a reservation if the planning authority fails to acquire the land within the stipulated period.Under the Act, the civic body was required to respond within two years. Officials acknowledged that the town planning department failed to act on the notice within the prescribed timeframe.Despite this lapse, the NMC’s public health engineering and town planning departments proceeded with the acquisition and awarded about Rs11 crore as compensation for three land parcels owned by Sachyani. Officials also said the civic body is facing difficulty tracing another landowner linked to the acquisition.The plant is a key component of the Amrut 2.0 scheme cleared by CM Devendra Fadnavis. However, the delay threatens to slow the broader sewerage expansion plan, under which the NMC aims to lay more than 500km of sewer pipelines across south and south-west Nagpur by July 2026.
