The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is likely to roll back its key reform that capped direct work orders without online tendering at ₹3 lakh — a measure introduced to curb misuse of “emergency” work provisions. Barely nine months after its implementation, the decision now faces reversal under political pressure from ruling party MLAs, corporators, and the Guardian Minister, who recently met Commissioner Dr. Abhijeet Chaudhari and senior officials at Civil Lines.
Senior NMC officials confirmed to The Live Nagpur that political leaders have been lobbying to restore the old ₹10 lakh limit, claiming the lower cap has “slowed down” local development. However, insiders admit the real reason is to reopen the backdoor system that once allowed favoured contractors to secure work orders without open bidding. “We were told to curb corruption, and now we’re being told to allow it again,” one official remarked.
The ₹3 lakh cap was introduced in February 2025 after The Live Nagpur’s series of reports exposed how zone officers divided projects worth crores into smaller parts under ₹10 lakh to bypass online tendering. The investigation revealed large-scale misuse across Laxmi Nagar, Lakadganj, and Satranjipura zones, leading to inflated costs and losses exceeding ₹200 crore citywide.
Officials fear the rollback — pushed ahead of the upcoming civic elections — will once again enable rampant manipulation of funds and destroy one of the few measures that ensured transparency and accountability in NMC’s contracting system.
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