Nagpur: As torrential rains pound Western Maharashtra and the monsoon edges closer to Vidarbha, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) appears dangerously unprepared, once again exposing its chronic apathy and bureaucratic inertia. While warnings of flooding loom large, civic authorities are yet to even finish pre-monsoon cleaning of the city’s rivers.
An RTI reply has laid bare the farcical state of NMC’s monsoon preparedness, revealing that only Rs 1.33 crore — just 19% — of the Rs 7 crore earmarked for river cleaning in 2024-25 has been utilized so far. The funds were meant for desilting and clearing of debris from the Nag, Pili, and Pora rivers—water bodies that have a documented history of causing severe urban flooding.
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29 May 2025
The civic body’s complacency is as baffling as it is reckless. Despite witnessing catastrophic floods in recent years, NMC continues to allocate funds merely for the sake of optics, failing year after year to fully utilize them. The RTI reply shows a disturbing trend:
• 2020-21: Rs 1.5 crore allocated, Rs 1.08 crore used
• 2021-22: Rs 2 crore allocated, Rs 1.16 crore used
• 2022-23: Rs 2 crore allocated, only Rs 62 lakh spent
• 2023-24: Rs 2 crore allocated, Rs 1.46 crore used
Following last year’s floods on September 23, 2023, when areas near Ambazari Lake and Shankar Nagar went underwater due to the overflowing Nag river, NMC had attempted to save face by raising the budget to Rs 7 crore for 2024-25. But the current spend paints a clear picture: tokenism, not action.
Even more alarming is the fact that no significant cleaning work has been completed, even as the monsoon clouds gather over Nagpur. Residents in flood-prone areas are now left bracing for yet another round of preventable disasters.
Last monsoon, on July 20, 2024, heavy downpour submerged 71 localities in southwest and south Nagpur. These areas, not traditionally flood-prone, suffered due to blocked river passages and neglected stormwater drains. It was a wake-up call. But NMC, it seems, hit the snooze button.
“The monsoon is about to arrive in Vidarbha. If desilting isn’t done now, the same streets will flood again. What excuse will the NMC give then?” questioned a frustrated Dhantoli resident. “Why earmark crores for river cleaning if they’re going to sit unused?”
The public outrage is mounting. As the city stares at another potentially devastating monsoon, the question remains: Will NMC act, or wait for another flood to jolt it into motion?
