Nagpur's dazzling civic development comes into focus

A growing city bursting at the seams with encroachments everywhere and a groaning ancient civic infrastructure that should have given way long ago.

This was the story of Nagpur just a few years ago. Built for about 10 lakh people, this city bang in India's centre was supporting a population of over 22 lakh and appeared destined for a blighted future. Then the miracle happened.

Somebody pressed the button and the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) went into the active mode. Led by the then municipal commissioner, T Chandrashekhar, it worked like never before.

Today, Nagpur has been transformed into a city with four-lane roads, landscaped dividers and footpaths, state of the art streetlights (and a unique maintenance system for them), regularised residential and commercial layouts, pay-n-park zones, hawker-free pavements, storm water drains and beautiful gardens.

What's more the civic body's revenue collections increased and it got itself a proper plan to further improve on its income.

The team from US rating agency Standard & Poor's, which comes to Nagpur tomorrow for reviewing the development as a part of its study in awarding the nation sovereign credit rating, would get a taste of the urban resurgence that the city is now experiencing.

Chandrashekhar was transferred last year to Mumbai to take on the urban transport project there, but his successor (then district collector), Manu Kumar Srivastav is carrying on from where Chandrashekhar signed off.

Development has come about in the form of tremendous improvement in almost all civic amenities provided by the corporation.

The most visible work has been in widening roads under the integrated road development project.

As Chandrashekhar himself put it: "The IRDP has been successfully implemented and executed following the core guiding principle that the natural resources and human resources should be combined to put into use effectively for bringing community welfare, to improve the quality of life and to enhance the living environment."

A total of 174.52 km of roads in the city were developed along with 90 km additional arterial roads. These asphalt efforts have to be seen to be believed.

Also, for the first time there was a responsive service provider taking care of streetlights in the city.

Privatisation was encouraged in NMC and soon an external agency appointed on an annual contract basis to not only maintain the street lighting system, but also to save on energy consumed. Vibrant Infotech Ltd was engaged for the task.

The contract was unique in many ways. The NMC was relieved of the job of daily maintenance and keeping inventory and also saving 12 per cent on annual energy bills as mandated. "There have been teething problems, but the system is there to stay," said the Municipal Commissioner, Manu Kumar Srivastav.

A self-assessment property tax document was prepared by the municipal corporation to enable citizens to calculate property tax all by themselves. A collection drive ensured that the corporation got more than it ever had in the past.

"We collected Rs 66 crore last year and were targeting Rs 79 crore this year," explained additional municipal commissioner, I A Kundan.

She said the main achievement of the drive has been collection of data and verification of unassessed property. "We are now in a position to increase our revenues."

Other schemes that the city has undertaken include an ambitious upgradation project of 424 slums complete with physical and social infrastructure, a massive solid waste management exercise to mechanically lift and transport 70 per cent of 800 metric tonne of municipal solid waste to the dumping ground daily and augmentation of water supply to the city through the Pench Phase III scheme.

The Pench Phase III scheme was completed by the NMC in record time of three years saving Rs 21 crore of the total budgeted Rs 117.78 crore. Water woes are yet not a thing of the past, but the situation has improved drastically.

Encouraged by the revolutionary methods it could adopt and implement, the corporation now intends privatising octroi collection. An effort that could face opposition from the trade, but vastly improve revenue collections for the city.