6 months on, overflowing sewers plague west Nagpur areas, pose health threat

Nagpur: Overflowing sewers have rendered a 100m patch, concretized by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) in west Nagpur, unsafe for driving. More than 1,000 residents of nearby localities like Adivasi Nagar, Shamshuddin Layout, Dwivedi Colony, Misal Colony, Patel Nagar and Qamruddin Layout are facing problems due to the overflowing sewer since the last six months.
Local residents told TOI that commuting on the main road, that links the areas with the Gittikhadan Road, has become impossible due to the overflowing sewers on the stretch. TOI visited the place and found that one of the sewerage chambers was overflowing just at the entry point of Adiwasi Nagar. With NMC ignoring repeated complaints, residents are forced to take a detour.
Two-wheelers riders lose balance while passing over the wet patch. “This has also led to many accidents, as two-wheelers quite often skid over the wet surface,” said Vijay Kawale, who runs a tea stall opposite of the overflowing sewer.
“Drainage water keeps flowing on the road between Adivasi Nagar and Shamshuddin Layout. Many complaints have been lodged about it in the last six months,” said Amjad Khan, a resident of Shamshuddin Layout. TOI tried to contact assistant commissioner Mangalwari zone Vijay Humne, but he was not available for comments.
Khan informed that officials had assured to address the issue, when the first complaint was lodged at the Mangalwari zone. Since then a lot of sewer water has flown over the stretch, and many complaints have been filed. Still, the civic body is turning a blind eye to problems faced by the residents. Now, at least a dozen houses on this stretch keep their main door and windows closed due to stinking water.
Another resident, Kanhaiya Kulmethe, said that after the general body was dissolved, NMC had stopped resolving civic issues. “Officials from NMC’s public health department, engineering department, and Mangalwari zone should be jailed for their negligent attitude. How can they ignore complaints filed by residents?” he said.
The sewer water has led to mosquito menace in the area. Many locals have complained of diseases like dengue, malaria. If ignored for long, it can lead to waterborne diseases like jaundice and typhoid, locals said. Already, every other house has a stomach infection patient, they claimed.
“Daily, we are forced to walk through the overflowing sewer water,” a resident said. “We are at risk of getting skin infection,” he added.