NAGPUR: Stalled for almost two years, including a year for want of police protection, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) finally razed 15 pucca constructions obstructing the smooth flow of a nullah in Gopal Nagar under Laxmi Nagar zone on Tuesday.
The drive was carried out under heavy police bandobast, said NMC’s enforcement inspector Sanjay Kamble. The NMC’s anti-encroachment squad had thrice attempted to raze illegal constructions in 2023 after local residents filed a petition at the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court in 2020.
Through counsel SS Sharma, local resident Rajesh Dhargave and others had approached the high court highlighting the consequences of unchecked encroachments and the neglect of drainage systems in the area leading to recurrent floods and potential health hazards.
They had informed the HC that the illegal constructions carried out on the bank of the nullah from Gopal Nagar, Pratap Nagar to Ring Road caused obstruction to its free flow of water.
Initially, the local residents had complained to the Laxmi Nagar zone about the illegal constructions of pucca houses by some people. The unregulated encroachments obstruct the free flow of drainage water, resulting in water entering the homes of petitioners and other residents during monsoon.
The residents in the vicinity have also highlighted the incomplete construction of retaining walls on the nullah because of the encroachment. Their pleas fell on deaf ears. Even in January 2022, the HC directed the civic agencies to identify and raze unauthorized settlements along the river.
However, due to lack of police protection, the NMC could not demolish the encroachments on the nullah. Later, local residents of Gopal Nagar filed a writ petition in high court.
In December 2023, the HC passed a stricture directing the city police to provide security to the NMC for demolishing unauthorised constructions.
On Tuesday, the NMC’s anti-encroachment team with heavy police bandobast razed all the 15 pucca houses constructed illegally on the nullah. The drive started at 10am and continued till late in the evening. All unauthorized constructions, which were obstructing the free flow, were razed.
