Dust, debris, dirty water: Gowa Colony doesn’t look like an area of a smart city

By Rutu Borkar

The settlement of Gowa Colony, located in the smart city of Nagpur is nowhere near to being smart. Located diagonally opposite Gaddigodam Gurudwara besides railway line, the area lacks basic civic amenities forcing citizens to make a compromise with filth and foul smell. Encroachment by the shop-owners adds to the residents’ problems that transverse into alarming health threats for the residents living here.

Deprived of any cleanliness measures, residents state that their nights have become horrible and living conditions are most pathetic for years altogether or as far as their memories go back. Mosquitoes have made their life hell and they have no answer on how to deal with the situation or overcome it as nobody has given any thought to their plight. Noori Khan, a citizen of Gowa Colony, said, “The nullah has not been cleaned for years. During monsoon, it overflows and the sewage water enters our homes. We have seen water reach waist-high which the slum-dwellers have to wade through to reach the main thoroughfare for work and earn their bread.”

Small bushes which had cropped up along the nullah have now grown into big trees. They are obstructing the free flow of sewage water and making it stagnant, which in turn is making it all the more hazardous. And to make matters worse the civic body yearly nullah cleaning exercise till date has failed to make any impact on this particular nullah. Perhaps the civic officials are unaware about the existence of this nullah or may be as railways have sizable presence in the area. The dispute is who is going to clean it, be it railways or the civic body. Sonu Sheikh, a mechanic, who works in a nearby garage stated, “apart from the big nullah, there is small nullah flowing through the slums but that has now been covered-up. There is no free flow of sewerage water and the situation is very critical”.

There are commercial establishments adjacent to Gowa Colony running parallel to the road from Gaddigodam metro station towards the Gurudwara. These shops have encroached on the nullah that is also responsible for obstruction of free flow of water. The sewage line passes below these shops. If a cleaning measure has to be undertaken, it cannot be carried out smoothly. In one of the free spaces between two shops, pigs have made it their abode. The railways-owned open land besides Gowa Colony add further to residents woes. Debris of mud, under construction material and other waste is dumped rampantly as nobody from railways is bothered about it. Vijay Humane, Assistant Commissioner, Nagpur Municipal Corporation, talking to ‘The Hitavada’ claimed that all nullahs are cleaned on a regular basis and we also run a cleanliness campaign for it. If anything is unattended, suitable action would be initiated once we receive any complaint.

Also, we are in talks with MahaMetro which will take over the land adjacent to Gaddigodam metro station. The encroachment problems would be solved all at once post proper development of the surrounding area,” he added.

Two time corporator from the area, Rajesh Matey, has alleged that there was no co-ordination among the local corporators that came to power in the last term. Also, the cleanliness workers deployed by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) do not discharge their duties honestly. Though they have been given Global Positioning System (GPS) watches, to track their location, it is of no use. Matey also alleged that many of the sanitation workers only sign the attendance register and skip their duties. Introspection and intervention on the part of the officials of Nagpur Municipal Corporation, especially those Mangalwari Zone, along can bring about change in the lives of residents of Gowa Colony and uplift them from filth and garbage to basic state of cleanliness.