THE biggest question the Nagpurians have in their mind is: Is the Government -- political leadership and the bureaucracy -- serious about Naag River rejuvenation ? As per recent developments have only underlined the question once again. We all may recall that the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has proposed a Rs. 1,900-crore Naag River Pollution Abatement Plan. And just a week later, Bharatiya Janata Party Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) Mr. Parinay Fuke has given a Call Attention Notice in the legislature to discuss the issue and demanding strict and strong action against the NMC officials for failing to maintain several Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) that have failed to deliver their expected service over time. And to make matters more complicated, Maharashtra Minister Mrs. Pankaja Munde has ordered an inquiry into the faulty STPs located along the Naag River. So, the question: Can anybody tell what is actually happening ? Meanwhile, the poor Naag River flows all the city’s filth as a massive gutter right to the Kanhan River -- even as the Government indulges in hollow political tall talk that on the ground means nothing.

 

The NMC’s Naag River Pollution Abatement Plan has a life of 10 years -- during which the river is expected get fully cleaned. The common people -- which include also the loosefooter -- see no concrete promise in this so-called pollution abatement project. For, many such promises have come and gone in the past 30-40 years. In the past 10-15 years, the promises as regards the Naag River got thicker and louder, with sensible delivery. One of the promises belonged even to the honourable Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi who included Naag River rejuvenation project among the 6-7 announcements he made during his visit to Nagpur. Yet, the city’s political and bureaucratic leadership did actually nothing to honour the Prime Minister’s assurance for good two-plus years. The civic authorities did make some cleansing moves etc, particularly after the big flood that damaged several thousand houses not along the river-banks but also deeper into different localities.

 

Yet much of that work did not appear to look promising enough -- no matter the joint press conference held by the political big-wigs Mr. Devendra Fadnavis and Mr. Nitin Gadkari. The people saw only some perfunctory work being done in the Naag river -- some digging, some filling, some retaining wall construction etc. To those who understood how rivers are managed, the entire effort looked only a touch-and-go affair. That story appears to continue even now -- as may be inferred from the few news items about pollution abatement project or the action ordered by a Minister or the Call Attention Notice by a ruling party legislator. So, the question in the end is: How serious is the Government -- at different levels -- about the rejuvenation of the Naag River, known as the city’s signature ? But may there be no confusion about how the Government respond to such a question. For, over the past few years the Government has pulled a thick hide over its head so that it does not see things as they are, or hear what the people have to say, or say a word when the people expect. The organism of the Government -- at least in the case of Naag River rejuvenation -- appears to be suffering from policy and action paralyses. n