Nagpur: With the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections coming to an end, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is preparing to accelerate pending civic development projects while simultaneously drawing up a long-term strategy to secure the city’s water requirements until 2047.
Mayor Neeta Thakre on Friday assured that all projects announced under the civic body’s Rs 6,200-crore budget would be completed, signalling a renewed push to remove administrative hurdles and speed up development works across the city. The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra, through a communication issued on October 29, confirmed that the MCC had ceased to operate in all five constituencies following the declaration of election results.
Thakre said the civic administration would now concentrate on implementing projects planned for the current financial year without further delay. She also indicated that the zonal budgets of Nehru Nagar, Mangalwari, Gandhibagh and Satranjipura would be cleared shortly to facilitate development works at the local level.
The enforcement of the MCC, coupled with delays in administrative approvals and the inability to initiate tendering processes, had affected the progress of several civic projects. In September, it was reported that only six of the NMC’s 10 zones had submitted their budgets for approval, putting nearly Rs 200 crore worth of development works at risk of delay.
The four pending zones were Nehru Nagar, Gandhibagh, Satranjipura and Mangalwari. Although the budgets of Gandhibagh, Satranjipura and Mangalwari had subsequently figured on the Standing Committee’s agenda, Nehru Nagar’s proposal remained pending amid questions over liabilities carried forward from the previous financial year.
With the electoral restrictions now lifted, the civic body is expected to move ahead with the necessary approvals and tendering procedures. The challenge, however, will be to translate budgetary commitments into actual work on the ground and ensure that projects do not remain confined to official announcements.
NMC prepares 2047 water roadmap, explores three options to secure future supply
Alongside its renewed development push, the NMC has initiated an exercise to assess Nagpur’s water requirements until 2047, keeping in view the city’s projected population growth and the increasing pressure on its existing water infrastructure.
The civic body is preparing a detailed project report (DPR) to examine future demand and identify sustainable sources of supply. At present, water planning is based on an estimated population of 30 lakh until 2031, with a prescribed per capita requirement of 135 litres per day. The new exercise will extend the planning horizon by another 16 years and examine three possible interventions to strengthen the city’s long-term water security.
Standing Committee Chairperson Shivani Dani-Wakhare said the NMC was considering the development of a water grid along the periphery of the proposed third outer ring road in the Nagpur Metropolitan Region Development Authority (NMRDA) area, sourcing water through the proposed Wainganga-Nalganga river-linking project during the monsoon, and expanding wastewater recycling in conjunction with a proposed barrage on the Kanhan river.
“The existing water planning takes into account a population of 30 lakh and a per capita requirement of 135 litres per day till 2031. We are now working on the city’s water demand till 2047, keeping future population growth in mind, and exploring three possible measures to ensure adequate supply,” Dani said.
The existing planning norm translates into a calculated daily requirement of 405 million litres per day (MLD) for a population of 30 lakh. However, Dani pointed out that the NMC currently supplies around 770 MLD, considerably higher than the requirement arrived at through this calculation.
The difference of approximately 365 MLD warrants a detailed examination of actual consumption patterns, distribution efficiency, supply to different categories of consumers and transmission losses. The gap, however, cannot automatically be treated as wasted or unaccounted-for water, as a comprehensive assessment would be required to establish how the supplied quantity is being utilised.
One of the major options under consideration is tapping the proposed Rs 94,912-crore Wainganga-Nalganga river-linking project. The ambitious scheme envisages transferring surplus water from the Wainganga basin towards the Nalganga in the Tapi basin. The NMC is examining the possibility of securing water from the project during the monsoon to supplement Nagpur’s future requirements.
However, the availability of water specifically for municipal use, the infrastructure needed to transport it to Nagpur and the arrangements for sharing the resource will have to be established before the project can be considered a dependable source for the city.
The second option involves significantly expanding wastewater recycling and exploring water-swapping arrangements. Nagpur currently recycles around 423.5 MLD of sewage water, of which approximately 390 MLD is supplied to the Koradi and Khaparkheda thermal power plants.
Increasing the reuse of treated sewage for suitable non-potable purposes could reduce dependence on fresh water for industrial and other applications. This, in turn, could help conserve more freshwater for domestic consumption and ease pressure on conventional sources.
The third proposal centres on the construction of the Rs 952.32-crore Kolar-Kanhan barrage near Bina village in Kamptee taluka. The proposed 438-metre-long structure is expected to have a live storage capacity of 67.81 million cubic metres (MCM), offering another potential source of water security for the region.
The detailed project report and design for the barrage have been prepared by the Central Designs Organisation, Nashik, and the proposal has been submitted to the state government for administrative approval. However, funding arrangements and land-related processes are yet to be resolved.
The two parallel initiatives underline the NMC’s immediate and long-term priorities: clearing the backlog of civic development works and preparing Nagpur’s essential infrastructure for future population growth. While the end of the MCC has removed an important administrative constraint, the success of the development agenda will depend on timely approvals, effective execution and financial planning.
Similarly, the proposed water-security measures will require coordination with state agencies, assured funding and clear implementation timelines. With Nagpur expected to expand considerably by 2047, the decisions taken now will play a crucial role in determining whether the city can meet its future water needs without facing a severe resource crunch.
