Nagpur: Despite crores of rupees being spent over the years on schemes and projects to clean up Nag river, its pollution levels and overall condition have shown little improvement, prompting the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court to question the functioning of Maharashtra govt and Nagpur Municipal Corporation on Tuesday.A division bench comprising Justices Anil Kilor and Rajnish Vyas had taken suo motu cognisance of a TOI report on pollution in Nag river and converted the matter into a public interest litigation.The court was informed that the city generates around 520 million litres of sewage every day, of which 423.5 million litres is treated. Around 320 million litres of the treated water is supplied to Koradi and Khaparkheda thermal power stations, while the remaining treated water is discharged into Nag river.The river eventually joins Gosikhurd dam, raising concerns about the impact of the discharge on the quality of water in the reservoir.The court noted that a Rs1,926.99-crore project, funded by Centre and state govt, is underway to control pollution in Nag river. The project includes sewage treatment plants, more than 500 km of sewerage networks and pumping stations.Against this backdrop, the bench questioned how such a massive expenditure of public money had failed to bring about the expected improvement in the river’s condition. It also questioned who would be held responsible if the river continued to remain polluted despite the implementation of the project and who was monitoring the works.The court also expressed displeasure over the fact that orders concerning the cleaning of the river had been passed around 16 years ago, yet the situation remained substantially unchanged.The bench directed NMC and state govt to come up at the next hearing with a concrete solution to the problem.
