– No concrete development after NRCD nod in July
Nagpur :- It’s been fifteen long years since 2008 that the people of Nagpur have been listening to politicians make tall claims and various agencies sink several crores into the Nag River only to see it still flowing as dirty and filthy as ever. A number of committees have been formed, expert visits organised and collaborations with premier institutes worked out, yet the ‘river’ remains little more than a stinking sewage sluice carrying the city’s muck.
All assurances and plans of clean recycled water have amounted to naught even as the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) desilts the canal every summer. The NMC with the help of the Central government had envisaged the Nag River Pollution Abatement Project to make the river really clean but due to red tape, paperwork is still going on.
Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court had taken note of the sewage in the river and pulled up the NMC for not cleaning it. In 2008, the civic body started preparing a detailed project report (DPR) in this regard. The report which envisaged the project cost at Rs 241 crore was submitted to the state government two years later but NMC was asked to revise it. Another report was submitted in 2012 in which the cost was down to Rs 126 crore.
After a nod from the state, it was sent to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), which forwarded it to IIT-Roorkee in 2012. An IIT-Roorkee team visited the city and then prepared a fresh DPR. In 2016, it was submitted to MoEFCC, which approved it. The cost had increased manifold to Rs 1,298 crore. 
The DPR gathered dust in MoEFCC for two years and then in 2018, union minister Nitin Gadkari asked NMC to prepare a fresh DPR. It was later decided that the NMC would fund the project to the extent of 15% and the balance would come from the state and the central government. Gadkari then decided to seek a soft loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the 85% share of state and Central government. Two years later, JICA signed an agreement with the Centre for this purpose. The same year, the state cabinet cleared the new DPR and the National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD) approved it in March 2021. By this time the cost had increased to a whopping Rs 2117 crore.
The project was approved by the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) of the Union Ministry of Finance in October 2021 and forwarded to JICA. However, the Japanese agency in February 2022 sought major revisions in February 2022. This revised DPR was approved by NRCD in July 2023. Since then the project file has been shunting between NRCD and NMC.
Bhoomipujan before approval
While the government agencies had shown no urgency in dealing with the project, the union cabinet cleared it in December 2022 even though it was yet to receive the green signal from NRCD. The reason was that local politicians had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bhoomipujan here on December 11, 2022. The project was approved by NRCD in July 2023. Strangely, the opposition leaders of the city did not object to this.
Riverfront devpt project shelved
Apparently, feeling that Nag River Pollution Abatement Project would soon become reality, NMC approached French agency AFD for beautifying the banks of the river. AFD agreed to fund a major share of the Rs 1,600 crore Nag Riverfront Development Project. It also appointed a consultant for preparing the DPR, which was submitted to NMC in 2018. The DPR has been gathering dust since then even though the French consul during his visit to the city once again evinced interest in financing the project.
TIMELINE
2008 – NMC starts preparing DPR of Nag River Pollution Abatement Project
2010 – State govt asks NMC to prepare a revised DPR
2012 – NMC submits revised DPR to state
2012 – State approves it and forwards it to MoEFCC
2012 – MoEFCC ropes in IIT-Roorkee, which starts preparing the third DPR
2016 – IIT submits the third DPR to the ministry
2018 – Union minister Nitin Gadkari asks NMC to prepare fresh DPR
2020 – State cabinet clears fourth DPR
2021 – NRCD approves fourth DPR and sends it to JICA
2022 – JICA seeks major revisions in DPR
2022 – Union cabinet clears DPR
2022 – PM Narendra Modi performs bhoomipujan
2023 – NRCD approves DPR with revisions sought by JICA
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
July 10 – NRCD approves DPR with amendments sought by JICA and allows NMC to appoint PMC
July 24 – Pre-bid meeting for PMC tender held
September 6 – Tender incorporating suggestions from bidders submitted to NRCD, which approves it
September 27 – Tender opened but only one bid received. NRCD suggests further revision
October 18 – Meeting with NRCD for discussing revisions
October 30 – Revised tender document sent to NRCD
