Nagpur MahaMetro agency in charge of key infrastructure work is to widen a strategic 450-metre section of the Nag river. The exercise will be done before May this year to counter floods and enhance smooth flow of water in the watercourse. In this report, let us understand why widening the Nag River is important, its significance, and how much it has achieved so far.
Why Nag River Should be Broadened
Nag River has been causing waterlogging near Krazy Castle to downstream areas of Ambazari Lake. Due to its narrow width, more areas get flooded mainly during the rainy season. This monsoon flooding destroyed much property on September 23, 2023, and there is urgent need for measures.
The investigation at the irrigation department revealed that the carrying capacity of the river had declined gravely in time. It had reduced from 193.3 cumecs at Ambazari Lake spillway to a meager 86.2 cumecs 425 meters downstream, leading to inadequate drainage during heavy rain.
Project Goals and Timeline
The objective of the widening project is to ensure that the river may carry the increased amount of water without any flooding. The project team is increasing the river width to 18 meters, thus ensuring that the river maintains a flow capacity of 140 cumecs, so that there is not much risk of flooding.
To this date, 15% work is almost complete. There is every chance that the total work would get finished by 31st May, 2025, or, before the start of the rainy season. Divcom Vijayalakshmi Bidari mentioned that all necessary efforts were made to deliver in this strict timeframe, however keeping some slack space for anything unwanted.
Steps followed in this project:
To ensure that the work is executed smoothly, several key steps are being performed:
Widen River Bed: The portion beside Krazy Castle, at a present width from 9 up to 14 meters will increase up to 18 meters and the more for a bigger river bed capacity.
Tender for the escape gates: The Irrigation department is preparing the tender for the escape gates, which would be provided to regulate the flow of water to prevent flooding at the time of heavy rain.
Following technical sanction (TS) from higher authorities, tenders will be issued inviting suitable contractors for the job.
For the third time, tenders for the escape gates of the Ambazari Dam have been floated. The plans that were there earlier to make vertical lift gates were changed to radial gates and the installation site was shifted to a safer location behind the Gajanan Maharaj Temple as contractors raised the issue of safety, not keeping it in line with the spillway and Swami Vivekananda statue.
Impact of the Project on the City
This river widening project is quite significant because it addresses flood mitigation directly, keeping in view the development of infrastructure within the city. This will make the city withstand its current highly variable level of floods during heavy rainfall events with lesser damage due to waterlogging.
This project will improve the status of people who commute around the region. The Public Works Department has been instructed to speed up the construction of bridges so that there is free flow of vehicular traffic on both sides upstream and downstream of the river stretch. It would be quite relieving, first of all for locals and also for visitors.
Conclusion
The much-needed widening of the Nag River project aims at improving the flood management of Nagpur. The project is expected to be completed by May 2025, and it is believed that this will ease the places within its zones that have been going through the issues of flooding for a long time. It is not just a short-term measure but also the long-term future-proofing of how the city would grow or remain sustainable.
The project is underway and the residents eagerly await its completion before monsoon sets in. As the deadline of the team approaches, this project would largely alter both the environment as well as the Nagpur city landscape.
Refer :
TOI, Link to article
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