Nagpur : As the G20 meet date of the 21st of March approaches, Nagpur is being spruced up to look at its finest. Walls are being painted with images, and hoardings are being erected highlighting the best of Nagpur such as the Diamond railway crossing, the Sitabuldi Fort, Tiger population, and other places of pride for the city. The world will see Nagpur at its full glory during the G20 summit.
However, among this beautification, one cannot fail to notice the facades being put up to hide the shortcomings and failures of the city.
The Nag Nadi or Nag Nala?
The rejuvenation of the Nag Nadi (River) which flows through Nagpur has been an anomaly. Once a river, this water source has now become nothing more than a sewer. With many waste drainage pipes being directly dumped in it, the water, and its river bed have become toxic for human consumption and marine growth.
Over the year’s various plans have been proposed to rejuvenate the Nag Nadi. In 2011, the Maharashtra pollution control board proposed the Nag river basin action plan. (https://www.mpcb.gov.in/sites/default/files/focus-area-reports-documents/Modified_Nag_River_Basin_Action_Plan_2011.pdf)
The very next year, on December 2012, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation proposed the Rejuvenation of Nagpur River and its Tributaries Plan. (https://www.nmcnagpur.gov.in/assets/250/2018/10/mediafiles/DPR_Nag_River_volume_III.pdf)\
As recently as 2021, the Government of India, through the Press Information Bureau, informed of the Nag river pollution abatement project, which would lead to bio-diversity and rejuvenation of Nag River in Nagpur City. (https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1701984)
All these announcements and some actions have led to nothing but disappointment for the people of the city. The river is still a sewer. Now that the city has been endowed with the privilege to host an international event such as the G20 Summit, this blatant failure is being hidden.
Wherever there is a possibility of the G20 delegates coming across the Nag Nala (sewer), it is being hidden by large plastic and fake grass walls. The failure to clean the river is being covered up the same way slums were covered up when Donald Trump visited Ahmedabad.
Rejuvenating a river such as the Nag, which is polluted and whose sources of pollution are growing every year, is a monumental task. In order to save face, a facade is what is being used for the time being. Only time will tell when the use of it can be dropped and the river can be shown to the world at its flowing best.
Hiding the Poor
Hiding a sewer is an easy task. But the authorities have gone one step further to put forth a fake image of the city. Old huts or houses which are conspicuous, that may tarnish the image of otherwise developed and affluent areas in the city, are being hidden by erecting hoarding and banners around them. The banners boast the greatness of the city through its history, biodiversity, and infrastructure, while the humans, whose houses are being blanketed by these hoardings, struggle to make a living.
Another shocking use of power and authority is seen on the roads by the banning of begging on the streets. The authorities have cited complaints made by motorists of harassment by beggars. While a ban on begging may be a step towards taking people out of this inhumane and degrading work, no efforts have been made to employ these beggars in any capacity. The only consolation they have been given is a relocation to one of the seven shelters for these beggars in and around Nagpur.
However, with no means to earn, and their only way of earning, begging, taken away from them, it will be the responsibility of the authorities to upskill them and provide them employment, a task at which they have failed miserably and are now trying to hide it behind the mask of a nuisance.
While a chance to host G20 is a massive achievement for the Green city, owning up to the mistakes and failures would have been a show of humility and commitment towards progress. It would have shown the world that a city, striving to be a smart city, has pressing challenges and is still able to host a world summit with grace and order.
A Facade has been chosen instead.
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