A crore-plus drinking water scheme has been rotting in Nagpur for three years — stalled over a patch of land barely the size of a small plot, exposing how local politics can derail even centrally-funded welfare projects.
Work orders for a ₹1.67 crore Jal Jeevan Mission scheme were issued in February 2023. A well was constructed, pipelines laid to 50 per cent completion, and construction material worth lakhs brought to site. Then everything stopped.
The contractor needed just five guntha of land to build a water storage tank and purification plant. Despite a formal request in May 2023, and a unanimous gram sabha resolution in January 2024 asking the gram panchayat to either donate land or arrange a donor, the sarpanch took no action.
Villagers allege personal rivalries and internal politics blocked every move. Meanwhile, pipes and iron rods have been rusting at the site for years, causing losses running into lakhs. Ironically, the village sits next to a large dam yet residents have been drinking murky river water since 1963.
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