Cash crunch defers Naik Talao revival

Nagpur: The cash-strapped Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has deferred rejuvenation of Naik Talao. The NMC’s Pench Project Cell (PPC) has conveyed this to mayor Sandip Joshi.
A senior PPC official told TOI that the accounts department had expressed inability to arrange Rs6 crore required for the rejuvenation work and hence asked them not to go ahead with the same for now.
As the lake falls under the constituency of former deputy mayor Deepraj Pardikar, the civic administration had earlier given its nod. The NMC had also revised the project cost from Rs3.83 crore to Rs5.97 crore to be spent over five years, said the former deputy mayor.
The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (Neeri) had prepared a detailed project report (DPR) for rejuvenation of Naik Talao. It had earlier estimated the cost of rejuvenation at Rs3.83 crore and additional Rs5 lakh for operation and maintenance for five years.
Pardikar said there are around three sewer lines that pollute the lake. As per the DPR, Neeri was supposed to use phytorid technology for treating sewage and revitalize the lake for which it had proposed to construct a sewage treatment plant (STP) with 1.8 million litres per day (MLD) capacity. The three sewage lines discharging wastewater into the lake were proposed to be joined and the discharge was to be treated at the STP.
He said a senior technical officer from Neeri had also given a detailed presentation last year. As per the proposal, Neeri was supposed to desilt and clean up the lake. It had told the NMC that it would use florafts and aerators to keep the lake water clean. As per the plan, quality of Naik Talao water was to be maintained as per green award norms.
Even the beautification work of Sakkardara Lake was stalled due to stoppage in release of funds by the Maharashtra government. Due to former MLA Sudhakar Kohle’s efforts, the erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis government had sanctioned Rs8.35 crore for rejuvenation and beautification of the lake.
The NMC had also entrusted the work to a contractor and the firm had carried out work worth Rs2 crore, said the PPC official. The official said now the civic body has asked the contractor to stop the work until the former received entire fund sanctioned by the state government.