A four-month long continuous operation at Ambazari Lake to remove the eichhornia that covers a large surface, cost only Rs 4,84,200. Sounds amazing as the said wonder was pulled off by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). However, there to seems to be more than meets the eye, as information sought under Right to Information (RTI) reveals that there is no record as to where such huge stock of eichhornia was dumped. On record, the operation initiated by civic body to rid Ambazari Lake of eichhornia infestation started from August 1 after environmentalists expressed outrage at systematic degradation of the lake. Solid Waste Department of NMC was tasked with pulling out the weed for which excavators and dumpers were used.

 

The excavators were stationed on the side of the garden at the lake’s banks as it offered the much needed cushion for the heavy machinery to drag the weeds and pull them out. The practice was to dry out the weeds on the banks after pulling them out from the lake. Thereafter, same was loaded onto dumpers and then disposed off. Here however, NMC has not shared any information as to where the dried eichhornia was dumped, said Pramod Pande. Pande had sought information as to disposal of eichhornia from the NMC, but civic body officials maintained a studied silence on the same. Record shared with Pande states daily weight of eichhornia that was extracted from the Ambazari lake.

 

Two garbage collecting agencies, AG Enviro and BVG were roped in by NMC to dump the eichhornia, but where they are not ready to reveal that deepens the reason for withholding the information from public. The daily sheet maintained by Records Department of Solid Waste Departments reveals that on an average, four to five trips were done to carry away the waste. Despite that, the total expense that NMC clocked was below Rs 5 lakhs points to something amiss.