Nagpur Municipal Corporation

History

The Municipal Council for Nagpur was established in 1864. At that time, the area under the jurisdiction of the Nagpur Municipal Council was 15.5 km² and the population was 82,000.

The duties entrusted to the Nagpur Municipal Council were to maintain cleanliness and arrange for street lights and water supply with government assistance. In 1922, the Central Provinces & Berar Municipalities Act was framed for the proper functioning of the Municipal Council.

On 22 January 1950, CP & Berar Act No. 2 was published in the Madhya Pradesh Gazette which is known as the City of Nagpur Corporation Act, 1948 (CNC Act). The Municipal Corporation came into existence in March 1951. The first development plan of the city was prepared in 1953. In the year 1956, under the state reconstitution, the Berar Province merged into the Maharashtra State with Mumbai being recognised as its capital; in 1960, Nagpur was declared as the second capital of the state.

Political performance in Election 2012

The results of the 2012 election are shown in the following table.

Political performance in Election 2017

The results of the 2017 election are shown in the following table.

Tasks

As per the CNC Act, 1948, the key responsibility for providing Nagpur’s citizens basic urban services lies with the Nagpur Municipal Corporation. NMC is responsible for administering and providing basic infrastructure to the city.

1. Building and Maintenance of roads, streets and flyovers.
2. Public Municipal schools
3. Water purification and supply
4. Hospitals
5. Street lighting
6. Maintenance of parks and open spaces
7. Sewage treatment and disposal
8. Garbage disposal and street cleanliness
9. Urban development and city planning of new areas.
10. Registering of births and deaths.

NMC co-ordinates with various other government organizations like NIT, MHADA, MSRTC, the Traffic Police, MPCB, etc. for delivering these basic urban services.

Administration

The corporation is headed by a Municipal commissioner, an IAS officer. He wields the executive power of the house. A quinquennial election is held to elect corporators to power. They are responsible for overseeing that their constituencies have the basic civic infrastructure in place, and that there is no lacuna on the part of the authorities. The mayor heads the party with the largest vote. A largely ceremonial post, he has limited duties.

Various departments such as public relations, library, health, finance, buildings, slums, roads, street lighting, traffic, establishment, gardens, public works, local audit, legal services, water works, education, octroi and fire services manage their specific activities. The activities of NMC are administered by its zonal offices.

NMC divides city in 10 zones and which are served by zonal offices –

1. Laxmi Nagar
2. Dharampeth
3. Hanuman Nagar
4. Dhantoli
5. Nehru Nagar
6. Gandhi Baugh
7. Sataranjipura
8. Lakkadganj
9. Ashi Nagar
10. Mangalwari.

As per NMC’s records, it has 10,450 employees at present (against a requirement of 12596) across more than 20 departments.

Each zone is divided into several wards. Each ward is represented by a corporator. NMC comprises 136 corporators majority of whom are elected in local elections. NMC and NIT together are in charge of the civic and infrastructure needs along with development of new areas.

One of City's Mayor has become Chief Minister of Maharashtra i.e. Devendra Fadnavis in 2014.

Financial status

In 2004-05, NMC’s revenues registered a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.9 percent and revenue expenditure increased at a CAGR of 9.0%. In spite of this, due to a strong revenue base in form of taxes, there was a revenue surplus of INR 78 crores and an overall surplus of INR 18.98 crores (including capital account). Revenue income is primarily earned by NMC or for NMC by some external sources. Among own sources, the largest source is octroi (47%) followed by property tax (18%).

In 2004-05, a capital expenditure of INR 79 crores was incurred, mainly covering water supply, public works and roads. The cost recovery of services varies across sectors. For example, water expenditure exceeds revenue income each year, making it financially unsustainable. However, sewerage charges exceed the operation and maintenance expense but the current sewer coverage of the system is quite low.