The Irrigation Department has submitted an important affidavit before the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court which confirmed that the Swami Vivekananda statue is built on the spill channel of the Ambazari dam. This has brought the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), which owns the dam, under scrutiny for allegedly violating dam safety rules. The affidavit was filed during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by citizens affected by the severe floods that hit Nagpur on September 22, 2023 which had caused large-scale destruction. Justice Nitin Sambre and Justice Sachin Deshmukh have directed the NMC to file its own affidavit in response. In the affidavit, Executive Engineer of the Irrigation Department, Nagpur region, Pranjali Tongse clearly stated that the Vivekananda statue is constructed within the spill or tail channel of the Ambazari dam, which is a functional part of the dam. This contradicts any claims that the statue is separate from the dam structure.

 

The affidavit affirms that the NMC is the official owner of the 150-year-old dam and is solely responsible for its safety, maintenance, and compliance under the Dam Safety Act, 2021. It also highlights that NMC carried out construction without the required permissions, violating Clause 46 and Clause 26(6) of the Act, which require prior approval for new works or alterations on dams. NMC had not obtained permission The affidavit further clarifies that it was the duty of the NMC to obtain permission from the Water Resources Department before constructing anything in the spill channel. While acknowledging the flood study conducted by the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune, the Irrigation Department distanced itself from the conclusions and stated that it is not authorized to interpret expert reports from CWPRS.

 

However, it confirmed that flood-related data was shared with CWPRS for its study on Nag River flood routing. According to the affidavit, the Ambazari Dam is classified as a “small dam” based on its 8.35 million cubic meters of storage capacity and 5.40-meter hydraulic head, as per national guidelines. Although its spillway is designed to handle up to 320 cubic meters per second (a 1-in-1000-year flood), it should be assessed for a 1-in-100-year flood (116.10 cumecs) under current norms. The affidavit also refers to government resolutions from 2013 and 2018 that prohibit construction in upstream and downstream areas of dams. The statue’s construction in the spill channel clearly violates these restrictions. The Irrigation Department added that since it does not own or manage the Ambazari Dam, it cannot act as the “appropriate authority” under the Maharashtra Irrigation Act, 1976, to remove obstructions like the statue. This responsibility again falls on the NMC. It also mentioned that strengthening work on the dam’s earthen portion was completed in March 2025, including adjustments to the upstream and downstream slopes. 

 

 

 In a separate affidavit, the petitioners - who are flood-affected residents - have raised serious objections to the CWPRS report and its acceptance by the High Power Committee. They claim the report is a “sham” aimed at justifying an illegal construction. The petitioners argue that the data given to CWPRS by NMC and Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) was incorrect and that CWPRS itself admitted to several discrepancies. They allege that the CWPRS wrongly assumed the dam’s discharge capacity to be 116 cumecs instead of 320 cumecs, which made the entire analysis flawed and misleading. The petitioners also pointed to earlier studies that had flagged the reduced width of the spill channel due to the statue’s construction. The structure divided the channel into two narrow passages, each just 5.07 meters wide, severely affecting water flow. They added that the statue is located in a “Prohibited Area” and “No Development Zone” as per urban development regulations, and even the Principal Secretary of the Urban Development Department had admitted this earlier.

 

 

Citing a meeting held on April 12, 2018, chaired by the Executive Director of VIDC, the petitioners noted that officials had already warned that the statue was obstructing water discharge. The VIDC had even asked the NMC to shift the statue and proposed Rs 10 crore worth of work to restore capacity. Out of this, Rs 1 crore had been deposited by the NMC. Furthermore, the petitioners claimed that Ambazari Lake is a protected wetland under the Wetland (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2010, and that the statue was built in violation of these environmental laws without court permission. Blaming the statue for the September 2023 flood disaster, the petitioners said that over Rs 234 crore worth of public property was damaged, Rs 1,000 crore loss was suffered by 26,612 private families, and four people died in the incident. A total of Rs 16 lakh in compensation was paid to the victims’ families. Given the serious nature of the charges, the High Court has ordered the NMC to file an affidavit within a week. Advocate Tushar Mandlekar appeared for the petitioners.