Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has set a definitive deadline of March 2027 to fully complete and execute the highly critical Pohra River Pollution Abatement Project. The directive comes as a strict response to severe infrastructural delays, with data revealed during the FY 2026-27 budget presentation showing that the vital sewage collection and cleanup drive has reached only 35 per cent physical completion after nearly two years of on-ground operations. Out of the comprehensive 535 kilometres of planned subterranean sewer network pipelines, contractors have successfully laid out just 176 kilometres. Standing Committee Chairperson Shivani Dani-Wakhare emphasised that the civic body is determined to accelerate remaining operations to ensure the Pohra River is entirely pollution-free within the designated time-frame.

 

To support this rapid infrastructural ramp-up, the NMC has structurally anchored a significant financial layout within its latest fiscal roadmap. The comprehensive dynamic sanitation initiative is backed by an overall administrative sanction of Rs 957.01 crore, cleared systematically via a cost-sharing framework under the Central Government’s flagship AMRUT 2.0 Mission. Under this financial division, the Central and State Government are provisioning matching grants of 25 per cent each, while the NMC bears the principal 50 per cent local component. To successfully raise its designated share of Rs 478.51 crore, the Municipal Corporation will secure a specialised Rs 400-crore loan package, utilising an initial credit facility of Rs 100 crore directly from authorised banks during the current financial year. Structurally, the large-scale public health engineering project is divided into five specialised development packages managed through lowest-bid contractors.

 

The master framework includes Package 1, valued at Rs 92.78 crore, which explicitly focuses on the construction of a modern 45 MLD (Million Litres per Day) Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), alongside six standalone pumping stations, wet wells, and pumping mains. The remaining four packages covering Sewerage Sub-zones 1, 2, 3, and 4, alongside specialised integration across Hudkeshwar and Narsala aggregate Rs 596.54 crore to deploy pipeline networks ranging from 200 mm to 1500 mm in diameter. The civic body has already generated a direct expenditure of Rs 162 crore, marking a 20 per cent financial utilisation rate. Local health authorities have noted that the rapid resolution of this delayed project is essential to preserving the South Sewerage Zone’s water table and providing advanced urban sanitation benefits to the citizens.