Yet another stretch of road in city has gone into abyss in the aftermath of laying of drinking water pipeline leaving citizens in a fix. The stretch is in Harvey Sabhapati Layout near Vijay Talkies and the area is dotted with godowns that serves local businesses. Once the area used to be hub of onion-potato trading but now it houses logistics units and due to shortcut adopted by the contractor and neglect on part of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), the only road in the area is now full of slush and garbage. Owing to uneven road due to failure of contractor to retar the road, behind Hotel Vrindavan, business is getting affected leaving the traders in a soup. The issue is becoming a common point as Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) authorities seems to be lacking the muscle and necessary power to ensure that contractors stick to tender condition which stipulates that post completion of work, the portion of road that is dug-up has to be restored.

 

The road remains in poor state as contractor is simply unbothered with general unhygienic conditions in the entire area. In February this year, NMC undertook the laying of pipelines under Amrut 2.0 scheme to strengthen drinking water supply in city. Following the laying of pipelines, road reconstruction was to be carried out and time to time the godown owners contacted the contractor who promised to fulfill the mandate. Now since last two months the contractor has simply stopped taking the call. The heavy rains in monsoon has further exacerbated the situation creating large potholes and uneven patches, making the street almost impassable. The road around the godown has led to severe disruptions, with large Trailers struggling to navigate through the poorly maintained road and there is always fear of getting stuck in the mud.

 

Also there is risk of Trailers collapsing into the canal whose parapet wall is also broken. Sangam Dalve, he has the godown near Vijay Talkies, stated that for the last four months the Trucks and Trailers can't be brought in for unloading at the second gate as slushy condition has complicated the matter. In case no immediate steps are undertaken, the logistics units would have to take call about shutting down as in case the trucks gets stuck it would lead to huge losses. Heavy rains continue to further deteriorate the ground condition. The failure to address this issues reflects poorly on NMC’s commitment to maintaining infrastructure. As the streets continues to worsen, residents are left questioning the priorities and effectiveness of local authorities. Due to rains the entire area become slushy and it has become ideal ground for breeding of flies and mosquitoes.

 

Just overhead is the corridor of Nagpur Metro and for those passing through the area the ground situation gives a bad impression about general hygiene and cleanliness. While NMC makes lot of efforts to create awareness about cleanliness but when it comes to taking the lead, the civic body seems to be falling. In fact, similar incident came to fore on Abhyankar Nagar and also in pristine Civil Lines where the contractor have left the dug-up portion as it is leaving citizens to bear the brunt. The NMC did take a lead and lodged FIR against an engineering firm for digging-up road without permission. Now one does not know where similar exercise would be done in case of Harvey Sabhapati Layout also.