Residents of Paoni in Bhandara district have lodged a strong protest with district collector Pravin Darade over discharge of sewage water into Nag River, consequently polluting the Wainganga through the Kanhan river. 

In a memorandum submitted to the Nagpur collector, Paoni residents demanded stern action against companies discharging sewage water into the river and suspension of concerned Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) officials under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. The act provides for prevention and control of water pollution. 

They threatened that if the government fails to stop discharging polluted water into the Wainganga river, the residents would intensify their agitation in August by burying themselves on the banks of Wainganga river. 

Deoraj Bawankar, president of Yuva Shakti Yuvak Sanghatana, who led the agitation, said that NMC supplies 525 million litres per day (MLD) water to the city and releases 420 MLD sewage water daily. Of this, 80 MLD sewage water is being discharged from Bhandewadi area after proper treatment. However, the rest of the water is being discharged into Nag river daily without any treatment. This water goes to Wainganga through the Kanhan river and hence residents in nearby villages are facing severe problems due to polluted water. Moreover, waterborne diseases like jaundice, gastro, typhoid and diarrhoea have become very common. 

Quoting a reply to an RTI query, Bawankar said that even the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) had confirmed that sewage water is polluting the Wainganga River. "In fact, three companies — Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited Koradi, Maharashtra State Power General Company Limited, Khaparkheda, and Messers Murli Power Industries Limited, Wadoda, Kamptee, were discharging untreated water into nullahs, which later gets mixed with Kanhan River. "Interestingly, all three companies own water treatment plants," informed the MPCB in its reply to Bawankar. It had also taken water samples from Nag and Kanhan rivers and found them to be highly polluted. 

The MPCB also claimed that it has asked NMC from time to time to take remedial measures and the civic body informs it that they have plans to install sewage treatment plants to stop discharging polluted waters into Kanhan river. "Unless NMC treats its sewage, the river will continue to receive polluted water. It will not only spread epidemics but adversely affect crops irrigated with Gosikhurd waters," he said.