Monsoon sets in, but NMC’s incomplete nullah-cleaning works spark inundation fears

Nashik: As the monsoon finally gains strength over Nashik after arriving late this year, Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) has yet to finish cleaning and desilting most of the city’s nullahs. The delay has raised concerns over flooding, waterlogging and the city’s readiness for the peak monsoon season.Nashik has 67 major nullahs spread across the six divisional offices of NMC. With June over and July under way, the delay has come under scrutiny as the city has already witnessed intermittent rainfall over the past few days. Although the civic body has deployed six monsoon task forces to handle rain-related emergencies, several corporators have raised concerns over the incomplete status of key pre-monsoon works.The issue echoed sharply during a recent general body meeting, where corporators slammed the administration over the sluggish pace of pre-monsoon preparations. Corporator Bhushan Rane said the delayed monsoon had effectively gifted the civic administration an extra month to finish the work, an opportunity that, he said, was squandered.“Pre-monsoon works should ideally be completed by April or May. The tender process itself should be wrapped up in Jan or Feb .

Yet June has passed, the rains have arrived, and several crucial works are still unfinished,” Rane said.Under fire, NMC officials attributed the delay to the model code of conduct imposed during the recent state legislative council elections, which impacted the process of appointing contractors for nullah cleaning and other monsoon-related works. “The tendering process has now been completed and proposals to award contracts will soon be placed before the standing committee.

Once approvals are secured, contractors are expected to begin work on a larger scale,” an official said.In an attempt to make up for lost time, the civic administration has altered its strategy this year. Instead of assigning contractors division-wise, they will now be deployed ward-wise — a move officials believe will accelerate execution and improve supervision.Recognising the urgency of the situation, NMC commissioner Manisha Khatri has directed all six divisional monsoon task forces to push ahead with cleaning operations till contractors formally take charge. Each task force, comprising around 15 personnel, has already been deployed for rain-related duties across the city.Additionally, divisional officers have been authorised to spend up to Rs 10 lakh each on urgent pre-monsoon works. Cleaning activities by the task forces have begun simultaneously in one ward across all six municipal divisions.