Nagpur: Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) proposal to prepare a comprehensive stormwater drainage and urban flood management plan hit a roadblock on Tuesday after the Standing Committee returned the Rs5.03-crore proposal, asking Public Health Engineering (PHE) department to submit it with more detailed technical inputs.The proposal came up for discussion amid concerns over the city’s recurring flooding and the pace of corrective measures since the devastating 2023 floods. Standing Committee chairperson Shivani Dani-Wakhare directed officials to place the proposal before the panel again with complete details. Chief engineer Leena Upadhey was absent due to a court hearing, while PHE superintending engineer Shweta Banerjee arrived late for the meeting.Congress corporator Abhijit Jha questioned the need to rely solely on a private consultant and urged NMC to involve premier technical institutions such as VNIT Nagpur, NEERI, CWPRS Pune, IIT Bombay and COEP in preparing a scientific and long-term flood management strategy.“Three years have passed since the 2023 floods. The committee should first know what NMC has done since then, what deficiencies have been rectified and how prepared the city is if similar rainfall occurs again,” Jha said.He argued that flood management cannot be restricted to municipal boundaries as water flows through natural drainage channels and catchment areas that extend beyond NMC limits. Jha sought a holistic study covering catchments, natural nullahs, urbanisation patterns and drainage linkages in adjoining areas.In another significant decision, the committee approved an 11-month extension for 59 employees of the Nuisance Detection Squad (NDS). Dani-Wakhare said the squad’s mandate would be expanded and zone-wise contact numbers would be issued to make complaint registration easier. Regular coordination meetings between corporators and NDS teams will also be held, while a new ‘Nagpur Vigil’ mobile application is being developed to automatically route civic complaints to the squad.The panel also cleared proposals for 10 additional hawker zones, increasing the city’s planned network beyond the existing 43 zones. During the discussion, Congress corporator Wasim Khan alleged selective action by the anti-encroachment department against small vendors and temporary structures, demanding similar action against permanent encroachments.3-Year Sewer Woes Finally Catch NMC’s Attention in MarartoliAfter nearly three years of residents’ complaints, the Standing Committee directed the administration to issue notices to a contractor and civic engineers from PHE department headed by superintending engineer Shweta Banerjee over a sewer line allegedly damaged during water pipeline work in Marartoli. Both water and PHE departments are headed by Banerjee. The concerned contractor, junior engineer and deputy engineer have been asked to explain how the damage occurred and why repairs were delayed, said Shivani. The episode has highlighted poor coordination between NMC’s water supply and sewerage departments, with civic officials now facing scrutiny for the prolonged inaction.
