In Nagpur, even a jail wall can’t stand tall when the city needs toilets. As preparations begin for the Dhammachakra Pravartan Diwas celebrations at Deekshabhoomi, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) Solid Waste Department has rolled out a sanitation plan with drama worthy of a Bollywood script.
This year, the civic body has promised 1,000 toilets for the lakhs of devotees expected from across the state. Of these, 400 portable toilets will make their debut in city history, while the rest will be temporary setups at sites like Mata Kacheri and Government ITI grounds. On paper, the plan sounds routine. On the ground, the headline act has been the demolition of a wall — a jail wall, no less.
At Rahate Colony Square, on the way to Deekshabhoomi, lies a plot belonging to the Central Jail. For years, it quietly hosted temporary festival toilets. But this time, jail authorities built a boundary wall to block the civic takeover. NMC’s response? Bring in the demolition squad. In one quick move, the wall was flattened — all in the name of public sanitation.
“The space was needed for portable toilets, as lakhs of people will walk past this stretch,” an NMC officer explained. The irony wasn’t lost on locals, who watched the civic body tear down a jail wall with more urgency than it fixes potholes or clears drains.
So this October, Nagpur won’t just showcase Deekshabhoomi’s historic spirit — it will also flaunt its brand-new portable toilets, built on the rubble of a Central Jail wall.
👉 Click here to read the latest Gujarat news on TheLiveAhmedabad.com