A portion of footpath in Subhan Nagar in Pardi area of East Nagpur caved in due to pressure of the underground sewage trunk lines that burst due to worn out pipes. The development started about three days back and on Monday a big crater developed by roadside giving scare to residents whose properties lies adjacent to the footpath. The development occurred when nobody was nearby and the compound wall of the house of Hemnani also came crashing down. Officials of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) from Lakadganj Zone rushed to the spot and started work to stabilise the portion of earth that got destabilised. Last year also similar caving had occurred in Subhan Nagar and now the stretch is adjacent to that land part, said Vijay Thool, Assistant Commissioner, Lakadganj Zone, NMC. He said to ensure that there is repeat of such incidents, new pipes are being laid and the soil around that may have got loose is being compacted.

 

As to reason for such caving of earth, Thool said perhaps the trunk line might have suffered minor damage during drilling of hole for the construction of compound wall. The small pocket started oozing the grey water and over the period of time, the hole widened due to vibrations and accompanied with pressure of trunk line the footpath caved in. The officials from Solid Waste Department and Public Works Department of NMC surveyed the spot and started work to isolate the vacuum and fill it properly by laying new pipes. Residents in Subhan Nagar claim that the sewage trunk line that is laid about 25 to 30 feet below ground needs total replacement to avoid any repeat of such incidents in future. About 2 km of new trunk line needs to be laid to handle the increased volume of sewage discharge due to increase in population.

 

The residents of the area submitted a deputation to NMC Zone and the work is now allotted to Tata Group associate company that is supervising Naag River Pollution Abatement Project. The company right now is busy with survey for laying of new trunk lines and only after its completion the tenders for laying the new pipes would start. But given the increase in gravity of such incidents the residents said NMC needs to act fast. Children are normally playing by the road side and also vehicles are parked and when a portion of road or footpath sinks, the crater size sometimes is quite big. so the lurking danger is giving sleepless nights to the residents.