Nagpur: Taxpayers in Nagpur are being short-changed on the most basic civic promise — smooth and safe roads. A fractured system of road ownership between multiple agencies, combined with poor maintenance and lack of coordination, has left most of the city’s tar roads cratered and crumbling.Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Public Works Department (PWD), and MahaMetro are among five agencies that own roads within city limits. However, barring NMC, none of the other agencies actively maintain the bituminous stretches in their jurisdiction. Even NMC is limiting its focus to roads wider than 12 metres, leaving hundreds of kilometres of internal lanes across the city to deteriorate unchecked.A ground survey by Team TOI across various localities revealed that most tar roads — particularly in interior areas — are riddled with potholes and completely worn out. From Futala Chowk to the lakefront, from Sonegaon forested route to the Ajni Medical Chowk bridge, and in busy pockets like Ganeshpeth and Samvidhan Chowk in Dattawadi, the bitumen roads are a minefield for motorists. Wathoda Ring Road, Vardhaman Nagar to Chhota Tajbagh, the Sakkardara service road, and roads around small mills in East Nagpur are in ruins.Of the 2,484km of roads owned by NMC, around 794km are tar roads. According to civic officials, these are supposed to be revamped with the upgraded NMC hotmix plant. But with the monsoon around the corner, most of these roads remain unrepaired, suggesting another season of bumpy rides and hazardous commutes.The other agencies control significant stretches — NIT owns 965km, PWD holds 148km, and NHAI maintains 29.8km within the city. But maintenance responsibility is often deflected or ignored, triggering a blame game between departments. As a result, there is no unified strategy or accountability to ensure road quality.Officials from NMC’s hotmix department clarified they would only attend to pothole complaints on roads owned by the civic body. The stretch from Rashtrasant Tukdoji Housing Society Road to Awasthi Nagar square is in a very bad state. The state PWD started cement concretisation work on this stretch two years ago, but the project is incomplete, said locals.Even in core urban zones, neglect is rampant. Interior roads, though narrower than 12 metres, are heavily used by residents. Their worsening state not only damages vehicles but also poses safety risks, especially for two-wheeler riders and schoolchildren.Recently, former corporator Narendra Borkar took municipal commissioner Abhijeet Chaudhari for an inspection of roads in the Small Factory area of East Nagpur. “He too admitted that the roads are non-existent and bylanes replete with craters,” said Borkar. The commissioner was reportedly shocked by the condition and acknowledged the complete collapse of road infrastructure in these inner lanes.In North Nagpur, former corporator Manoj Sangole pointed out that turf wars between NMC and NIT officials have left residents to pay the price. “Due to constant blame-shifting and jurisdictional confusion, even basic amenities like pothole-free roads are being denied to people. Every monsoon, many areas get cut off due to slushy and broken roads,” Sangole said.“The road from Power Gate Corporation to Kabir Nagar Chowk is in terrible shape, as is the stretch leading to the Uppalwadi Post Office,” he said. Sangole added that the road from Uppalwadi Hekda Pul to the Khasala boundary through the industrial area is riddled with potholes and almost unmotorable. He also pointed out the poor condition of roads near the Panch Pradhan Awas Yojana at Pili Nadi, starting from the Gauri Shankar Hotel and Banjara locality. “Another major road from Baba Balaknath Mandir to the SRA housing scheme is in shambles despite being a project worth Rs2.5 to Rs3 crore. Shockingly, it lacks not only a proper road surface but also basic infrastructure like electricity poles,” Sangole said.Until a unified, city-wide road management strategy is enforced for year-round road maintenance — including internal lanes — the promise of a ‘pothole-free monsoon’ is bound to remain another civic myth.
