NMC unveils ‘Pollution Free Nagpur’ digital complaint system after HC push | Nagpur News

Nagpur: Responding to Nagpur bench of Bombay high court’s continuing scrutiny of noise pollution enforcement, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) informed that it is integrating its existing online grievance portal into a coordinated digital mechanism, “Pollution Free Nagpur,” to ensure faster registration, routing and monitoring of complaints related to noise.NMC commissioner Vipin Itankar in an affidavit said citizens can lodge complaints through NMC’s official grievance portal by logging in with a registered mobile number and OTP, selecting the Environment Department and identifying the location of the alleged violation. Once submitted, the complaint is electronically registered, categorised as a ‘Noise Pollution Complaint’ and routed through the backend system.Itankar added that the integrated mechanism would automatically notify the jurisdictional deputy commissioner of police and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), enabling simultaneous action by multiple agencies instead of requiring complainants to approach each department separately.To improve coordination, NMC said it has completed zone-wise mapping of police jurisdictions and proposed using its existing grievance portal as the citizen-facing entry point, subject to technical integration with the larger platform.The civic body said the system would facilitate complaint registration, complainant authentication, automatic identification of jurisdiction, simultaneous transmission to police and MPCB, monitoring of action taken and escalation of unresolved complaints.The affidavit clarified that development of the integrated portal would ‘not postpone, suspend or dilute the existing statutory powers and responsibilities of the concerned authorities.’Until the platform becomes fully operational, complaints will continue to be received through the existing grievance mechanism and forwarded to the competent authorities for action.NMC has nominated its Director (IT) as the nodal officer to coordinate with District Collectorate, Police Commissioner, MPCB and other agencies on technical integration, complaint routing, jurisdictional mapping and resolution of technical issues.NMC informed that it would ‘extend necessary cooperation for establishing an effective, coordinated and citizen-friendly mechanism’ and ensure that complaints relating to noise pollution ‘are not lost, remain traceable in the system and are brought to the notice of the concerned authority for appropriate action in accordance with law.’How the complaint would move?The proposed workflow will move from Citizen → NMC Grievance Portal → Environment Department → Location/Zone Selection → Noise Pollution Complaint → Automatic Notification to Police and MPCB → Action → Status Monitoring and Closure.