Tattered roads: NMC under SHRC fire even for those owned by other agencies
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Nagpur: A notice issued on Friday by the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has laid bare the fractured and overlapping system of road governance responsible for the city's deteriorating infrastructure.
The Commission, acting suo motu, criticised NMC for a viral video that captured five two-wheeler riders falling in quick succession due to a dangerous height mismatch between a cement road and adjoining interlocking tiles on Ambazari Road. The incident was termed a gross violation of human rights, and NMC was directed to submit a factual report and take urgent corrective measures.
But there's a catch — the road in question does not even fall under NMC's jurisdiction.
It is owned and maintained by the state Public Works Department (PWD), Division No. 2. Yet, it is the NMC that faces legal scrutiny, media pressure, and the anger of frustrated citizens. This isn't an isolated case.
Nagpur's 3,549km road network is carved up between multiple govt agencies, each responsible for a share but rarely seen taking responsibility. Official figures — though outdated — show NMC manages approximately 2,406km, Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) 965km, PWD 148km (including the Inner Ring Road), and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) around 30km.
by Taboola
by Taboola
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Despite this, only NMC is visibly involved in maintenance work or held accountable when things go wrong.
The SHRC's intervention has triggered fresh calls from civic activists and experts to overhaul this broken system. "If the accident happened on a PWD road, why is NMC being dragged into court?" questioned a senior civic official. "This is not just unfair, it's bad governance. You cannot hold one agency accountable for the failures of others."
Even basic infrastructure like stormwater drains is missing from large sections of the road network. Of the total 3,549km, only about 845km is estimated to have proper drainage. This lack of coverage results in frequent waterlogging, damaging roads further and putting lives at risk — especially during monsoon.
Meanwhile, Rs2,000 crore cement concrete (CC) roads have been laid in the last decade, but many fail to meet Indian Road Congress (IRC) standards.
At junctions where CC roads meet interlocking blocks or older tar roads, dangerous level mismatches have become traps for motorists and pedestrians. Despite these glaring systemic issues, NMC alone continues to face the wrath — from citizens, the judiciary, and now the human rights watchdog.
"Even the NMC maintains the patchwork on roads and flyovers owned by other agencies," said a senior official from NMC's hotmix department.
Citing examples, the official said the Wardha road double-decker flyover, constructed by MahaMetro and NMC, is doing its patch works, and so is the case with other roads. Even the agencies do not bother to fund the costs incurred by the NMC to repair their roads, the official said.
In June this year, state revenue and guardian minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule took cognisance of the poor condition of city roads and directed NMC to begin immediate re-carpeting of major routes, including those falling under NIT's jurisdiction.
Bawankule stressed that as the primary urban authority, NMC should step in to prevent suffering during the rains and assured that the state govt would facilitate funding for these works.
However, despite the minister's intervention, NIT and other agencies have failed to maintain their portions of the city's road network, while NMC is left shouldering the blame — both fair and unfair.
The situation has revived long-standing demands for a unified city road authority that can centralise responsibility and streamline planning, execution, and maintenance. Without such reform, experts warn, Nagpur's roads will continue to be plagued by confusion, poor coordination, and zero accountability. For now, the city's potholes are everyone's problem — but the punishment continues to fall on just one agency.
Roads Jurisdictions
Nagpur has over 3,549km of roads, but ownership is scattered across agencies:
NMC: 2,406km
Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT): 965km
PWD: 148km, including the Inner Ring Road
NHAI: 30km
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