The season’s first major downpour on Wednesday night exposed serious flaws in monsoon preparedness at several infrastructure project sites across Nagpur, with a car plunging into a dug-up stretch on Rameshwari Road emerging as a stark reminder of the risks posed by ongoing construction works.
Around 70 mm of rainfall left roads submerged, temporary diversions waterlogged and excavated stretches covered in slush, making commuting difficult and hazardous. The showers highlighted inadequate planning, poor drainage arrangements and insufficient safety measures at a time when the city is witnessing one of its largest infrastructure expansion programmes.
Multiple government agencies, including the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), Public Works Department (PWD), MahaRail, MahaMetro, Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), Nagpur Metropolitan Region Development Authority (NMRDA) and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), are simultaneously executing projects such as flyovers, underpasses, cement roads, drainage networks, utility shifting and junction improvement works.
A visit to several project sites found under-construction roads inundated with rainwater, while temporary diversions had become slippery and excavated stretches virtually impassable after loose soil mixed with rainwater.
At MahaRail’s flyover construction sites in East Nagpur and along the Kadbi Square-Mominpura corridor, waterlogged approach roads and muddy work zones slowed traffic and created unsafe conditions for commuters.
In South Nagpur, roads excavated under the NMC’s AMRUT 2.0 drainage project turned into slushy stretches, with several locations posing a serious threat to two-wheeler riders. Waterlogging was also reported around the PWD’s three-in-one flyover project on the Inner Ring Road, while incomplete cement road works undertaken by the NMC further hampered vehicular movement.
The situation was no different in the Besa-Beltarodi area, where roads dug up for the NMRDA’s drainage project turned into muddy tracks, increasing the risk of vehicles skidding.
Residents said the first spell of heavy rain had exposed the lack of coordination among executing agencies, with many construction sites lacking proper barricading, temporary drainage and other essential safety measures. As several large-scale infrastructure projects are set to continue through the monsoon, citizens have demanded stricter monitoring and better planning to ensure development works do not become a recurring safety hazard during the rainy season.
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