Nag river rejuvenation: Possible beginning of a scientific action

26-04-14

* Meeting held on Friday sets deadline of March 2015 for achieving the goals
* NEERI to prepare a concept paper on Nag river rejuvenation
* NMC to prepare a Master Plan, to take up the task of Red and Blue markings

By Kartik Lokhande 

Various agencies came together on Friday and deliberated upon the actions to be taken to rejuvenate Nag river and taking proper care of city’s water system components including Futala lake. Laying the foundation of scientific approach, Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA) Chairman Ravi Budhiraja asked National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) to prepare a concept paper on the issue.
Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) was asked to prepare a Master Plan regarding rejuvenation of Nag river, and also to take up the task of Red and Blue markings so that constructions did not come up in the river bed or in the vicinity of the river. Some more important suggestions included installation of CCTV cameras at sensitive water bodies like Futala to catch persons throwing garbage/waste into the lake. Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), NMC, and Water Resources Department (WRD) were asked to work jointly and take up the task of cleaning up Futala by putting together their resources. Zilla Parishad (ZP) was asked to hold awareness workshop for villagers not to dump garbage or sewage into the Nag river outside city limits. The workshops will be conducted after May 7. A suggestion to encourage activities like bird-watching, Boat Club in Futala lake were also made.

MWRRA chief Ravi Budhiraja chaired a meeting held at Divisional Commissionerate on Friday. MWRRA Member (Economy) Chitkala Zutshi, Divisional Commissioner Anoop Kumar, Air Vice Marshal V S Bharti, NEERI Director Dr S R Wate, Municipal Commissioner Shyam Wardhane, NIT Chairman Pravin Darade, District Collector Abhishek Krishna, Chief Executive Officer of ZP Shivaji Jondhale, Sub-Regional Officer of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) Hema Deshpande, Assistant Chief Engineer of WRD K S Vemulakonda, Deputy Commissioner (GAD) Appasaheb Dhulaj, NGO representatives Pradyumna Sahasrabhojanee and Shyam Pandhripande, and others attended the meeting.
At the outset, Anoop Kumar made a presentation on the issues involved and actions taken so far. Following this, the officers representing various agencies deliberated upon the issues and decided a course of action to be taken. In his impressive presentation Dr S R Wate said that water of irrigation quality could flow in Nag river if natural system was developed to treat sewage in the river bed, remove sediment, and then going for desiltation. At present, he said, if sewage flow into the river was stopped, it would go dry as there was no source of water for it except in monsoon. Hence, things would have to be done scientifically and in phased manner, he added.
Responding to the issues concerning NMC, Shyam Wardhane informed the other officers that NMC was treating 120 MLD out of 345 MLD of sewage. Besides, the tertiary treatment plant of 120 MLD was nearing completion. From this, NMC would sell the treated water to Mahagenco and earn some revenue. Besides, decentralised sewage treatment plants (STPs) were proposed to be set up at various locations. Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) and Manganese Ore India Limited (MOIL) were contributing funds under corporate social responsibility, he added.
NIT Chairman Pravin Darade pointed out that there were 21 layouts along Nag river stretch from Lava to Amravati Road and they would have to be regularised as per the provisions of Gunthewari Act as they came up before the year 2001. The norm of ‘no construction’ in stretch of 500 metres from the river banks would affect 4,400 plots, he said. He sought to reduce the ‘no construction’ zone to 9 metres on each side of the river. Referring to a previous observation about a mall letting sewage directly into the river in Mouza Lendra, he said that there was no such case. However, MPCB officer Hema Deshpande said that she had found sewage from the mall being let into the river a day ago. Following this, Budhiraja asked MPCB to submit the report prepared on the issue to MWRRA and also to initiate prosecution if required.
Air Vice Marshal V S Bharti, Senior Air and Administrative Staff Officer (SAASO) of Maintenance Command, Indian Air Force (IAF), offered help in improving the Futala lakeside. On May 3, he said, the Symphony Band of the IAF would play at the lakeside to generate awareness among people about the site. Further, Maintenance Command would provide volunteers to clean up the lake. At the same time, he suggested the authorities concerned to take punitive action against those throwing garbage into the lake. NIT should ask the vendors at the lakeside not to throw garbage or waste into Futala lake, Budhiraja said. Further, he asked NIT to scrap licences of the vendors violating the directive. It was decided to achieve the set goals by March 2015.

MIA seeks MIDC’s help for CETP MIDC Industries Association (MIA) also made a representation in the meeting. Mayank Shukla, President of MIA, sought clarifications on certain aspects including River Regulation Zone (RRZ) Policy and common effluent treatment plant (CETP). In response, MWRRA chief Ravi Budhiraja asked MIA to process their applications for review under RRZ Policy to RRZ Policy Review Committee through MPCB or Environment Department. Shukla said that MIDC should help MIA in setting up CETP. In response, MIDC officer present in the meeting said that CETP was to be set up by MIA. Even if MIDC set it up, it would have to recover the cost from MIA later on. On this, Budhiraja asked the MIDC to send a proposal in this regard to MIDC head office in Mumbai for further follow-up.

Mpl Corpns not treating 100% sewage may face hike in water charges

Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA) has sent a strong message to municipal corporations in the State not treating 100 per cent of the sewage generated in respective areas, by proposing increase in water charges.
MWRRA Chairman Ravi Budhiraja informed about the development to Municipal Commissioner Shyam Wardhane, in the meeting held on Friday. Budhiraja said that NMC or other municipal corporations would be required to recover the cost of sewage treatment plants (STPs) with water charges from consumers. From this, a corpus would be built for municipal corporations for conservation of river and treatment of sewage further.
Talking to ‘The Hitavada’, MWRRA Member (Economy) Chitkala Zutshi said that MWRRA had submitted a proposal in this regard to the Government. The idea was to encourage municipal corporations to treat sewage fully so that pollution of water bodies or rivers like Nag could be reduced substantially. Else, water charges would be increased for municipal corporations after six months.
MWRRA has adopted the ‘polluter pays’ principle in its Cost Allocation Matrix for Bulk Water Tariff (2013-16). After receiving the comments, MWRRA also has posted its reply to those. As per the MWRRA reply available on its website, municipal corporations would be required to recover cost of STPs with water charges by December 31, 2014. The municipal corporations not complying to this would face increase of 50 per cent in the punitive charges every six months, it proposes.