Gorewada water row deepens as congress flags contradictions and FDCM letters point to sewage threat

Nagpur: The Gorewada lake sewage water controversy has intensified, with Congress alleging glaring contradictions in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation's (NMC) stand on water quality, even as official correspondence from the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) points to untreated sewage entering the reserved forest and potentially impacting the city's water source.The escalation comes two days after NMC issued a press release defending Gorewada lake water as potable, citing laboratory test reports and maintaining that there is no sewage contamination. However, at a press conference on Friday, leader of opposition Sanjay Mahakalkar, along with corporators Shailesh Pandey, Wasim Khan and Vivek Nikose, questioned the civic body's claims and demanded that the lab reports be made public.Tracing a timeline of shifting positions, Congress leaders pointed out that during the March 20 general body meeting, superintending engineer Shweta Banerjee acknowledged that sewage from the Dabha area was entering Gorewada lake, while maintaining that water was not being drawn at the time. This was followed by an April 11 admission by the water works department that 4-5% water was being pumped from Gorewada to maintain levels at the pumping station. The latest assertion by NMC that the lake water is safe has, therefore, raised serious doubts, they said.Pandey alleged that the civic body's ‘clean chit' contradicts its own earlier statements. Questioning the source and quality of the water being pumped, he said the situation was being deliberately obscured. In a bid to underline his claims, Pandey submitted bottles containing pale yellow-coloured lake water to PHE department executive engineer Shrikant Waikar and other office-bearers, including mayor Neeta Thakre's office, and announced that he would conduct an independent water test.Adding to the controversy are FDCM's letters to the Nagpur Improvement Trust and copy to NMC commissioner, which flag untreated sewage from Dabha and Ganesh Nagar flowing directly into the Gorewada Reserved Forest, bypassing the sewage treatment plant. Despite repeated communications since 2024, the issue remains unaddressed, the letters state.The environmental impact is already visible. During a patrol in May 2025, forest officials reported mass fish deaths in contaminated water bodies, indicating severe pollution. The affected area, which is part of a protected forest ecosystem, also houses a proposed conservation breeding facility for wild water buffalo, now under potential threat.More critically, the polluted nullah eventually drains into Gorewada lake — a key backup source for Nagpur's drinking water — raising concerns about public health risks. While NMC maintains that Gorewada is only used as an emergency source and that water supplied is treated, the FDCM's findings suggest a deeper and unresolved issue on the ground.Mahakalkar said the failure to disclose water quality reports and the lack of transparency in recent inspections have only deepened public suspicion. Demanding to stop the flow of sewerage water into the lake, Mahakalkar and Pandey demanded that NMC should take measures to conserve the lake surrounded by forest. If it failed to act now, like other water bodies in the city, Gorewada too would die a slow death," Pandey said, adding that if the issue was not resolved, he would sit on hunger strike.