The Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) anti-encroachment drive at Plot No. 4, Orange City Street in Khamla, has drawn criticism after it fenced off a public toilet, leaving local vendors — many of them elderly women — without access to basic sanitation.
The 4,294.05 sq. m plot, cleared for a ₹80 crore five-star hotel project under the Smart City initiative, was barricaded by NMC’s Laxmi Nagar zone team with police assistance on Thursday. While vendors were evicted to prevent re-encroachment, a public toilet built by NMC also ended up behind the metal fencing.
Sindhubai Wankhede (67), who has sold vegetables at the spot for over three decades, said, “We used that toilet daily. Now we are forced to go behind trees. It’s disgraceful.”
Saraswati Jagtap (72), a vendor of leafy greens, said the situation is painful. “At our age, we can’t hold urine for hours.”
Others like Vimalabai Borkar (60), Godavari Tembhurne (64), and Rukhmini Dongre (70) echoed the same concern. “I use a walking stick. Where do they expect me to go?” asked Tembhurne.
The barricaded toilet — visible yet unreachable — highlights poor planning during the eviction process.
Younger helpers like Raju Kalbande, who assist their mothers, added, “We sit here all day. That toilet was about dignity, not convenience.”
Vendors claimed they had legal hawker licenses and were not occupying permanent structures, only using temporary bamboo-and-tarpaulin setups.
NMC Garden Superintendent Amol Chorpagar said he would visit the site on May 13 to inspect concerns over tree cutting and planning issues.
As the project progresses, the civic body faces growing questions over the human cost of development done in haste.
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