Nagpur lake restoration
Flagship water bodies across the region, the active restoration programmes and the court orders shaping them.
Swacch Association, Nagpur v. State of Maharashtra, 2025 INSC 1199
Supreme Court of India: dismissed the appeal. It held that Futala, which it records was built in 1799 as a man-made tank for irrigation and drinking water, is not a 'wetland' under the Wetlands Rules, 2017, and upheld the High Court's directions that no permanent structure be built within the lake and that the water body be kept clean. It held that the public trust doctrine extends to man-made water bodies. Petition filed over the lakefront's fountain, gallery and floating structures at Futala Lake.
Order text (Indian Kanoon) →Swacch Association, Nagpur v. State of Maharashtra (2023:BHC-NAG:16604-DB)
Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench): declined to order removal of the musical fountain, viewers' gallery and parking plaza, directed that no construction of a permanent nature be undertaken within Futala lake, and directed Maha Metro and NMC to ensure their activities do not damage the lake and to keep the water body clean and properly maintained. Petition filed over construction for the lakefront at Futala Lake.
Order text (Indian Kanoon) →In re: news item on Futala Lake (suo motu)
National Green Tribunal, Western Zone Bench: has heard the case since June 2025. A joint committee of CPCB, MPCB and NMC reported that about 145-160 houses beside the lake have no sewer and that the settlement has 8 cow shelters (gaushalas), and made seven recommendations; on 18 November 2025 the Tribunal asked NMC for an action plan with a timeline. On 10 September 2026 NMC reported a technical sanction of Rs 33,09,488 and a budget provision of Rs 36,24,426 for a sewer, and MPCB was asked whether CPCB's guidelines for dairy farms and gaushalas are followed. The case was next listed for 29 October 2026. Taken up by the bench on its own, concerning a newspaper report on the condition of the lake at Futala Lake.
Order text (Indian Kanoon) →Public interest litigation on the Ambazari overflow of September 2023
Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench): has overseen Ambazari's safety works since December 2023: it directed NMC and the Nagpur Improvement Trust to remove structures obstructing the Nag (17 January 2024), asked the State's High Level Committee to complete temporary flood-safety measures before the 2024 monsoon (8 May 2024), and recorded the Irrigation Department's affidavit that the design of three spillway gates was in progress and the need for the Nag below the dam to carry at least 75 cumecs (11 July 2024). On 2 July 2025 it recorded that the dam's safety is NMC's responsibility as its owner. Petition filed over the flood of 23 September 2023 below Ambazari dam, in which the Collector's affidavit records four deaths.
Order text (Indian Kanoon) →Court on its own motion v. State of Maharashtra (city lakes) (2026:BHC-NAG:7264-DB)
Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench): disposed of the case with directions to the District Collector and the NMC Commissioner to look into the issue, conduct the necessary enquiry, take the steps essential for conserving the city's lakes, and submit an action-taken report to the Registrar (Judicial) within four months. Taken up by the bench on its own, concerning newspaper reports on the degradation of several lakes in the city.
Order text (Indian Kanoon) →Court on its own motion v. State of Maharashtra (Sonegaon lake)
Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench): issued notice to the State, NMC and the Nagpur Improvement Trust, returnable on 24 December 2025, and appointed an amicus curiae. Taken up by the bench on its own, concerning backwater from the lake entering homes at Sonegaon Lake.
Order text (Indian Kanoon) →Court on its own motion v. State of Maharashtra (Ambazari lake)
Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench): took on record NEERI's report on the lake's water and asked NMC to report within three weeks on removing the high concentration of phytoplankton, with a programme for periodic cleaning and for desilting. Taken up by the bench on its own, concerning contamination of the water at Ambazari Lake.
Order text (Indian Kanoon) →Nagpur Municipal Corporation v. State of Maharashtra
Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench): stayed directions on Ambazari's safety issued by the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority on 10 December 2020, holding prima facie that the Authority lacked jurisdiction, and recorded that PIL 96/2017, disposed of on 21 March 2018, had already given comprehensive directions on the dam. Petition filed over the Water Resources Regulatory Authority's directions on the dam's safety at Ambazari Lake.
Order text (Indian Kanoon) →In re: news item on a high-rise near Ambazari lake (suo motu)
National Green Tribunal, Western Zone Bench: disposed of the case without directions, recording the permissions the building held and that it stands higher than the top of the spillway, and that the flood question is before the High Court in PIL 56/2023. Taken up by the bench on its own, concerning a newspaper report on flood risk from a high-rise building beside Ambazari lake.
Order text (Indian Kanoon) →Court on its own motion v. State of Maharashtra (Vidarbha river pollution)
National Green Tribunal (Special Bench): recorded NMC's statement that it had appointed contractors and service providers for 11 lakes and 3 rivers, with a project report for each. Taken up by the bench on its own, concerning pollution of rivers and lakes in Vidarbha.
Order text (Indian Kanoon) →Restoration programmes touching Nagpur - 8
Two lakes sanctioned on 2 November 2022, each to be completed in 12 months: Naik (desilting, storm drain, sewer line, edge wall, toilet block, yoga shed, compound wall, immersion tank) and Lendi. The AMRUT 2.0 portal lists Naik as 'Project Completed'. NMC's 2023-24 report records Lendi's work as not completed because of opposition from residents to the removal of encroachments.
Sanctions: Naik Rs 12.95 crore (Centre 3.24, State 3.24, NMC 6.48) and Lendi Rs 14.13 crore (3.53, 3.53, 7.07). The portal lists only Naik, at Rs 15.95 crore. NMC's 2022-23 report mentions Rs 1.5 crore sought for Naik, Mangalwari and Lendi lakes under AMRUT 2.0; the sanctions are the figures used here. The two GRs' text was read from the orgpedia mahGRs archive copy (the official PDFs did not open on 15 October 2026).
NMC's 2023-24 report: first phase complete at Gandhisagar, Sakkardara, Sonegaon and Naik, and work complete at Police Line Takli and Binaki; Gandhisagar, Sakkardara and Sonegaon 'under 2nd phase of development and beautification', including desilting, walking tracks, rainwater drains, edge and retaining walls, toilet blocks, sewage treatment plants, fountains, footbridges and parking.
NMC's 2022-23 report records that NMC 'dedicated a huge surplus of Rs 100 crore' to Gandhisagar, Sonegaon and Sakkardara, 'to be completed by 2024'. The report cites no sanction order for the figure.
Phase 1: retaining walls on the south and north, a garden, shops, an amphitheatre, a footpath and recharge shafts. Phase 2: works on the south, west and east sides to make the lake a tourist destination.
Phase 1 Rs 17.32 crore (sanctioned 28 February 2019); phase 2 Rs 24.96 crore (7 November 2023, with Rs 8.25 crore released and the money to be spent by 31 March 2024). NMC's 2026-27 budget provides Rs 12 crore (Rs 1,200 lakh) for the project.
Development and beautification of the old Bhonsle-era tank in the city centre; first phase complete and second phase under way in 2023-24, per NMC's report.
NMC's budgets carry Rs 1 crore a year as NMC's share of the lake's rejuvenation (Rs 100 lakh in both 2025-26 and 2026-27). No State sanction order for the lake was found among the Government Resolutions indexed by department, so the project's total cost is not shown.
Permissible development works at Sakkardara lake; the Collector to give administrative approval for each work.
A musical fountain, a viewers' gallery, a parking plaza and floating structures (a restaurant, a banquet hall and an artificial banyan tree). The High Court declined to order their removal but barred any permanent construction within the lake (30 November 2023); the Supreme Court upheld this on 7 October 2025. Before the Tribunal, the lake's ownership is stated to vest in the State Public Works Department.
No cost is stated in any official document read.
A State High Level Committee (5 January 2024) to complete the works to strengthen the dam; three spillway gates of 4 m by 2.5 m, whose design the Irrigation Department reported in progress (February 2024); a high-level submersible bridge across the spill; and widening the Nag from 14 m to 18 m at Crazy Castle below the dam.
NMC's 2025-26 budget: Rs 11 crore (Rs 1,100 lakh) for strengthening the dam. State Disaster Mitigation Fund: Rs 19.84 crore to Maha Metro for the Nag widening (7 May 2025). The two are separate sanctions and are not added up.
Three artificial tanks for public idol immersion: at Gorewada village (estimated Rs 19.62 crore), Kachhi Visa ground (estimated Rs 2.15 crore) and Police Line Takli lake (estimated Rs 8.50 crore). All three were complete and used in Ganeshotsav 2025.
Rs 30.27 crore approved by the Collector from the State grant. NMC's 2026-27 budget also provides Rs 4 crore (Rs 400 lakh) for maintenance, repair and environmental works at the city's lakes.
Flagship water bodies - 8
On 7 October 2025 the Supreme Court held that Futala is a man-made water body built for irrigation and drinking water, and so not a 'wetland' under the Wetlands Rules, 2017. It upheld the High Court's directions of 30 November 2023: no permanent construction within the lake, and NMC and Maha Metro to keep the water body clean. In the National Green Tribunal's case on the lake's condition, the order of 10 September 2026 recorded NMC's technical sanction of Rs 33,09,488 for a sewer for the settlement beside the lake, and the case was next listed for 29 October 2026. NMC's 2023-24 sampling recorded water hyacinth on the lake.
builder: Gyanoji Bhosale, in 1799 (Supreme Court of India, 2025, para 5.3) - fed by the Futala stream, dammed to form the lake, which collects water from the slopes of Seminary Hills and is a tributary of the Nag (the Supreme Court, quoting the Nagpur Museum's record)
The Supreme Court records that the lake 'along with its catchment' covers about 200 hectares; a Nagpur Museum record quoted in the judgment says it was built to give water to the Telankhedi precinct, a garden of the Bhonsle rulers with a guest house for dignitaries. The 1908 Imperial Gazetteer counts the Telinkheri reservoir among the 'worthy monuments of the best period of Bhonsla rule'. The 1966 District Gazetteer describes the Telankhedi tank's 725.6 m main dam and the 34.4 hectares of the Government Agriculture College farm and Telankhedi garden it irrigated.
CWC's National Register of Large Dams (2019) lists the dam as completed in 1870: earthfill, 13.71 m high and 952.51 m long, holding 8.37 million cubic metres over 153 hectares, operated by the State Water Resources Department and registered for irrigation. After the overflow of 23 September 2023, in which four people died according to the Collector's affidavit, the High Court is overseeing safety works (PIL 56/2023): the Irrigation Department told the court in February 2024 that the design of three 4 m by 2.5 m spillway gates was in progress, and on 2 July 2025 the court recorded that the dam's safety is NMC's responsibility as its owner. NMC's 2023-24 sampling recorded water hyacinth and greenish water.
builder: not named; built in the days of Bhonsle rule (1966 District Gazetteer); in 1873 the municipality raised the old tank's embankment by 17 feet and laid pipes to carry its water to the city by gravity, at a cost of Rs 4 lakh - fed by the upper Nag, which leaves the lake as the river through the city (the 1966 Gazetteer: 'almost a natural reservoir formed in the basin of the Nag river')
The 1908 Imperial Gazetteer records the embankment raised again by famine labour in 1900, to 1,033 yards long and 35 feet high, with a water surface of 412 acres, and that a surface drainage scheme was taken up to keep the piped supply from waterlogging the city. The 1966 District Gazetteer calls Ambazari the oldest lake of its type in Nagpur, 'built in the days of the Bhosle rule', and gives its daily draw then as over 10 million litres.
CWC's National Register of Large Dams (2019) lists the dam as completed in 1911: earthfill, 17.37 m high and 710 m long, holding 8.84 million cubic metres over 192 hectares, operated by the State Water Resources Department and registered for irrigation. NMC's 2023-24 sampling recorded plastics and weeds at the bank. One of NMC's three artificial idol-immersion tanks, used in Ganeshotsav 2025, is in Gorewada village (survey no. 106; estimated at Rs 19.62 crore, including works around it).
builder: not named in the sources; built as the city's second source after Ambazari's supply 'was inadequate to meet the demand' (1966 District Gazetteer) - fed by the Pili river ('Poli River' in CWC's register), dammed by an earthen embankment
In 1966 the District Gazetteer gave its capacity as 275.32 million cubic feet above filter level and its daily draw as 18.20 million litres, through three filters beside the reservoir.
NMC's 2023-24 report records the first phase of development as complete and a second phase under way: desilting, a walking track, a rainwater drain, edge and retaining walls, a toilet block, a sewage treatment plant, fountains, a footbridge and parking. NMC's 2022-23 report had set 2024 as the target for this lake, Sonegaon and Sakkardara. NMC's 2026-27 budget provides Rs 1 crore as its share of the lake's rejuvenation; no State sanction for the lake was found.
builder: the Bhonsle rulers ('a large rectangular lake built by the Bhosles and improved in later years', 1966 District Gazetteer); no individual builder or year is named
The 1908 Imperial Gazetteer places the Juma talao 'between the city and the railway station' among the monuments of the best period of Bhonsla rule. In 1966 the District Gazetteer described a garden with a small temple in the middle of the lake, and its fisheries list already used the name Gandhi Sagar.
Beautification in two phases: phase 1 under the State's basic-amenities scheme (Rs 17.32 crore, sanctioned 28 February 2019) and phase 2 under the Tourism Department (Rs 24.96 crore, 7 November 2023). NMC's 2023-24 report records phase 1 complete and phase 2 under way; NMC's 2026-27 budget provides Rs 12 crore. In November 2025 the High Court opened a case on its own motion over backwater from the lake entering homes.
NMC's 2023-24 report records the first phase of development complete and a second phase under way. On 10 July 2026 the State sanctioned Rs 20 crore of its own funds for works at the lake, to be executed by the Nagpur Improvement Trust.
The 1908 Imperial Gazetteer mentions the Sakardara Bagh 'about a mile from the city', with a small menagerie; the 1966 District Gazetteer lists Sakkardara among the city's old gardens.
Rejuvenation sanctioned under AMRUT 2.0 on 2 November 2022 at Rs 12.95 crore, with completion expected in 12 months. NMC's 2023-24 report records the first phase as complete; the AMRUT 2.0 portal lists the project as 'Project Completed' at Rs 15.95 crore (read 15 October 2026; the portal gives no dates). NMC's sampling recorded water hyacinth. The lake lies downstream of Lendi lake.
Rejuvenation sanctioned under AMRUT 2.0 on 2 November 2022 at Rs 14.13 crore, with completion expected in 12 months. NMC's 2023-24 report records that the development work 'was not completed on account of opposition from residents to removal of encroachment', and that the lake was not sampled because of dense vegetation and low water. It is not among the Nagpur projects on the AMRUT 2.0 portal (October 2026).
Methodology: Nagpur's lake record is spread across four kinds of official document that do not always agree: NMC's Environment Status Reports (progress as informed by NMC), the State's Government Resolutions (sanctions and releases), the AMRUT 2.0 portal (the Centre's milestones) and NMC's budgets (each year's money). Where they give different costs or stages for the same lake, all are shown with the document each comes from. Court and tribunal orders were read on Indian Kanoon; the court, case number and date are the citation, and orders that recite press reports are carried for their directions only. Press reports were used as leads, never as figures.