In a major drive to prevent untreated domestic effluent from polluting southern Nagpur’s watercourses, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) has achieved 55 per cent physical progress on the ambitious Pohra River Pollution Abatement Project. Sanctioned under the Central Government’s AMRUT 2.0 mission at a Detailed Project Report (DPR) cost of Rs 957.01 crore, the project aims to establish an extensive underground wastewater interception and treatment network across South Nagpur, including Hudkeshwar and Narsala.

 

The project started in early 2024, the estimated timeline for the completion of work was two years. The project is financed through a tripartite funding model comprising a 25 per cent grant each from the Centre and the Maharashtra Government, while the NMC bears the remaining 50 per cent. To facilitate execution, the civic body divided the project into five distinct packages amounting to Rs 689.32 crore (excluding GST), awarding work orders on June 25, 2024. The broader scope entails laying approximately 535 km of sewer pipelines ranging from 200 mm to 1500 mm in diameter, constructing six pumping stations, and setting up a 45 MLD Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). According to the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department official, works underway across municipal zones 1, 3, 4, and 5 have achieved 295 km of pipeline laying out of 537 km, with expenditure touching Rs 162 crore (20 per cent financial progress).

 

Package-wise, Package 1 (Rs 92.78 crore) covers the 45 MLD STP and wet wells, while Packages 2, 3, and 4 cover sewer sub-zones 1 to 4 valued at Rs 466.42 crore, and Package 5 covers Hudkeshwar-Narsala at Rs 130.12 crore. Elaborating on the project roadmap, NMC Executive Engineer Rajesh Dufare said, “The civil execution of the 45 MLD treatment facility and related underground infrastructure is moving ahead in full swing. We aim to wrap up the broader civil and sewer network works by April 2027, Civil work on the Chikhali STP is underway with completion expected by July next year, while the 10 MLD Jaitala STP is slated for completion by January, 2027. Once fully operational, the system will completely intercept sewage outfalls, permanently sanitising the Pohra river basin.”