NMC floats fresh cleaning tenders despite claim of water surplus

Nagpur: Even as the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) continues to maintain that the city has adequate drinking water supply from the Pench and Kanhan rivers, the civic body has floated fresh tenders worth over Rs24 lakh for cleaning and repairing public wells in three zones — Satranjipura, Dhantoli, and Hudkeshwar-Narsala — triggering questions over the necessity of repeated expenditure on groundwater sources.The tenders issued by NMC's Public Health Engineering Department include dewatering, desilting, cleaning, repair works, and installation of information boards at multiple public wells. The move comes despite the corporation repeatedly assuring citizens that Nagpur receives nearly 765 MLD water from surface sources and faces no major shortage of drinking water.Critics and civic observers have termed the decision contradictory, questioning whether the wells are genuinely required for potable use or are merely turning into recurring maintenance liabilities funded by taxpayers.Executive engineer Shrikant Waikar said NMC is set to clean 352 wells in the coming days, and the three tenders are part of the exercise. "It is an annual exercise carried out before the summer and monsoon seasons," he clarified.The issue assumes significance because civic records from previous years already showed expenditure exceeding Rs1.24 crore on cleaning hundreds of public wells across the city. Despite repeated desilting drives, several wells allegedly remained neglected, while some appeared repeatedly in successive contracts.Recently, the corporation also approved additional expenditure running into crores for cleaning hundreds more wells under groundwater management and summer preparedness measures. Officials justified the move by claiming that traditional water sources needed revival to support emergency water availability during extreme summer months.However, an earlier study conducted by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) flagged contamination concerns in many public wells. The report found sewage infiltration caused by leaking underground sewer pipelines and damaged drainage infrastructure polluted groundwater in several locations, rendering the water unsafe for drinking.Environmental experts argue that the real issue lies not in silt accumulation alone but in the failure to scientifically address sewage leakage and groundwater contamination. According to them, repeated desilting without repairing underground sewer networks offers only cosmetic improvement, while the primary pollution source remains active.The latest tender notice has raised concerns because it does not disclose the names, exact locations or contamination status of the wells proposed for cleaning. The absence of public data has fuelled suspicion over whether the same wells are again being included in annual contracts.Questions are also being raised over NMC's spending priorities as several parts of the city continue grappling with erratic water distribution, polluted lakes, overflowing drains and poor sanitation infrastructure.NMC PUBLIC WELL CLEANING DRIVETotal public wells in Nagpur: 849Wells cleaned between 2022 and 2025: 464Wells earlier reported unclean: 385Wells proposed for cleaning under fresh citywide plan: 352Latest tenders floated: 3 worksZones covered: Satranjipura, Dhantoli, Hudkeshwar-NarsalaEstimated cost of latest tenders: Rs 24.05 lakhDaily water draw from Pench and Kanhan: Approx. 765 MLDMajor issue flagged by NEERI: Sewage contamination due to leaking underground sewer linesNature of work in latest tenders: Dewatering, desilting, repairs and installation of information boards