A nearly 250-year-old stepwell (‘barav’) linked to the Bhosale-era Sonegaon Lake in the Amraai area is on the verge of collapse, with part of its structure already caved in and its parapets crumbling. The well, choked with garbage and algae, has lost its water channel connection to the lake, and the remaining structure is considered unsafe after an iron support frame installed by civic authorities reportedly hastened the collapse of one section.
Built roughly 250 years ago under Raje Mudhoji Bhosale II, Sonegaon Lake and its connected well once formed a sophisticated water-management system, channeling water through stone tanks and underground passages into the well and onward to smaller reservoirs. The lake drew water from the Pohara river, now defunct, through embankment openings on three sides.
Heritage group Barav Bachao Samiti’s Hitesh Duff said temporary patchwork won’t save the structure — a scientific study of the entire Bhosale-era water system, including the lake, well, stone tanks, underground channels and catchment area, is needed. He has urged the archaeology department to declare the site a heritage tourism spot, warning that further delay risks permanently erasing an important chapter of Nagpur’s water-management history.
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