While the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) claims to be on a relentless ‘Mission 100 Day’ to reclaim the city’s streets, a closer look at the official statistics reveals a staggering disparity between the frequency of drives and the actual impact on the ground. Data acquired for the period between April 1, 2025, and May 13, 2026, a span of over 400 days, shows that the Enforcement Department has only managed to seize 136 illegal stalls. The report indicates that action was taken at 616 locations across the city’s ten zones. On paper, the department appears active, reporting 22 demolished unauthorised buildings, the removal of one dilapidated structure, and the clearance of three houses obstructing road-widening projects. However, the seizure of just 136 stalls over nearly 14 months translates to an average of one seizure every three days. For a city where many major intersections and footpaths are notoriously choked by hundreds of illegal vendors, these numbers are a serious concern.

 

If the enforcement teams are indeed out in the field daily, as claimed, the meager count of seized materials suggests either a lack of manpower or a significant lapse in the execution of these drives. Despite these daily operations, the reality for Nagpur’s pedestrians remains unchanged. Footpaths, primarily meant for walking, continue to be occupied by permanent and semi-permanent structures. The slow-paced nature of these enforcement actions means that as soon as a team clears one area, vendors often return within hours, confident in the knowledge that the next action might not occur for weeks. Currently, the department is battling with the shortage of manpower which makes it difficult for the teams to conduct anti-encroachment drives smoothly.

 

Assistant Commissioner, Enforcement Department, Sanjay Kamble, informed, “Currently 55 people work in the Enforcement wing, and apart from those, from past one week we have hired contractual security persons to join the enforcement teams. Out of those 60, 20 will join the central team and rest of the 40 persons will join the zonal teams.” “Municipal Commissioner has noticed the shortage of manpower and hiring will be done in next days,” Kamble added. The total fine collected during this tenure stands at Rs 8,87,000. While this contributes to the civic treasury, it hasn’t acted as a sufficient deterrent to keep the streets clear. The co-ordination with the Police Department has provided the necessary security for these drives, yet the department seems to be lacking somewhere in achieving a long-term solution. Citizens are now questioning if these drives are merely a procedural formality. Without a more aggressive and consistent seizure policy, the goal of freely roaming on footpaths will remain a distant dream for the people of the city.