Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
By Dheeraj Fartode
The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has taken strong note of serious deficiencies on the Nagpur–Katol–Kalmeshwar road after a detailed inspection by a three-member committee. Based on the committee’s findings, the court on Tuesday issued a show-cause notice to the project director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and asked for a reply by January 6.
The matter was heard by Justices Anil Kilor and Rajnish Vyas. Earlier, the court had ordered a site inspection to verify whether the development work on the Nagpur-Katol road was completed as claimed by NHAI and to assess how much work was still pending. Accordingly, a committee comprising Advocates Ashwin Deshpande, Prasad Bawankule, Aradhya Pandey, along with NHAI’s lawyer Adv Anish Kathane, conducted the inspection on Saturday and submitted its report on Monday.
In its report, the committee stated that many directions issued by the High Court in earlier orders have not been followed. The court had earlier, on March 26, 2025, directed NHAI to install radium boards and maintain diversion boards. However, the committee found that these instructions were largely ignored.
Major problems near Fetri
The committee observed that the road starting from New Katol Naka has been asphalted properly and the drainage blocks are elevated by around 30 cm. However, major problems were found in several other stretches. Around Fetri village, the work is being done as a one-time development project and is to be handed over to the State Public Works Department. Though encroachments were recently removed, some illegal structures still exist on elevated drainage lines. The work in this stretch has been allotted to M/s Sunrise Construction, but pavement work for 1.5 km is still incomplete.
Absence of proper signboards
One of the most serious findings was the absence of proper signboards along the entire 48.2 km stretch. The committee noted a severe lack of speed limit boards, blinkers, reflectors, and warning signs near schools and accident-prone areas. This clearly showed non-compliance with the High Court’s earlier directions.
Near the Believers Eastern Church and the railway crossing on Katol Road, especially under the flyover service lane, the road condition was found to be extremely dangerous. The surface is badly eroded, making it highly accident-prone. There are no proper diversion signs, reflectors, or night caution arrangements at construction sites.
3 fly-overs under construction
The committee also inspected three flyovers starting from Kalmeshwar. Shockingly, all three are under reconstruction even though they were built just about one and a half years ago by the same contractor, Respondent No.9. Entry and exit points are not secured, and reflectors are missing. One flyover was found in a very hazardous condition, with bent and damaged walls. Commuters are forced to use badly maintained service lanes without lights or traffic management, especially risky during night hours.
Several service roads were found incomplete, un-asphalted, and poorly maintained. Illegal parking of trucks and school buses further blocks these lanes. Unsafe U-turns without signs or reflectors were also noted.
Tiger corridors not fully developed
The committee gave special attention to the Tiger Corridors. Two such corridors are yet to be fully developed. Tiger Corridor-I, near Chargaon, has an undeveloped entry and exit, making it extremely accident-prone. Tiger Corridor-II also has similar issues at its entry point. A 3 km stretch near the MSRDC toll plaza at Kondhali, under Respondent No.8, was described as “egregiously mishandled” with very slow progress and almost no safety measures. Though the work was supposed to finish by January 2026, it may now extend to March 2026, forcing commuters to use a dangerous road for months.
Destroyed plantation
The committee also found destroyed or missing plantation on dividers. It suggested speed breakers near Gorewada Zoo, better traffic control by the RTO, restoration of plantations, and urgent installation of safety signages.
The case arises from public interest litigations filed by Dinesh Thakre and Sumit Babuta for road completion, and Adv Arun Patil against encroachments.
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