Nagpur: Taking stern cognisance of the recurring flooding crisis caused by backwater from Sonegaon Lake, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has stepped in with a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) after rainwater mixed with lake overflow once again swept into residential colonies, causing widespread destruction.
The division bench comprising Justice Anil Kilor and Justice Rajnish Vyas expressed deep concern over the persistent suffering of residents, noting that despite repeated appeals and multiple monsoon cycles, there has been no meaningful intervention from the authorities. The court appointed Advocate Sandeep Marathe as amicus curiae and directed him to file a detailed petition within four weeks. Advocate Payal Bawankule represented the state government.
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27 Oct 2025
For 15 long years, residents living around Sonegaon Lake have endured the same nightmare every monsoon. The latest incident occurred on September 1, when heavy rains caused the lake’s backwater to breach residential boundaries, filling homes with knee-deep water and leaving families devastated.
Residents of Prasad Housing Society, Mamta Society, and Paradise Society, located on the western boundary of Sonegaon Lake, reported severe damage to household goods, grains, furniture, and personal belongings. Many newly shifted families suffered massive losses as water inundated ground-floor homes, forcing several residents to evacuate and seek temporary shelter.
Locals explained that their neighbourhood is geographically trapped, squeezed between the Jaitala Airport wall on one side and Sonegaon Lake on the other, leaving no natural route for floodwater to exit. Citizens insist that the only permanent solution is to construct a channel to divert excess water into the drainage network.
Residents say they earlier proposed this solution during discussions on the Sonegaon Lake beautification project, but their pleas were ignored, a failure that has now drawn the sharp attention of the High Court.
With the court’s intervention, affected citizens are hopeful that years of official apathy will finally end and that a sustainable engineering solution will be implemented before another monsoon disaster strikes.
