Nagpur’s Public Spaces Face a Surge in Costly Vandalism

thenewsdirt
Aug 14
10 min read

In the heart of the Vidarbha region, Nagpur has witnessed a worrying surge in public infrastructure vandalism over the past five years.

From city buses and metro coaches to public parks and toilets, a pattern of theft, defacement, misuse, and destruction of civic property has emerged. Incidents once considered isolated or bizarre, such as thieves carting away a municipal bench in broad daylight, are highlighting a broader challenge for authorities. Unlike instances of riot-related damage or politically motivated acts, these cases involve apolitical vandalism targeting everyday public assets that residents rely on.

The trend has raised questions about civic responsibility, law enforcement vigilance, and the cost to the public exchequer in Nagpur and its nearby towns.

Civic Amenities Under Attack

Vandalism and theft have increasingly plagued Nagpur’s civic amenities, straining the city’s infrastructure and budget.

In one striking case from June 2025, a man and a woman were caught on CCTV calmly lifting a Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) bench off a roadside and balancing it on their two-wheeler before driving away.

The footage, captured between RTPS Square and Mate Chowk, went viral on social media and left local residents astonished at the brazenness of the act.

Such thefts, though unusual, underscore how even basic public facilities like benches can become targets for miscreants.

Public sanitation infrastructure has also suffered heavily. The NMC recently admitted in court that many public toilets have deteriorated not just from neglect but from rampant theft and vandalism of fixtures.

In an affidavit submitted to the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court in August 2025, the civic body detailed how unscrupulous individuals have been stealing or smashing toilet seats at pay-and-use lavatories across the city. “Citizens lack civic sense, leading to repeated damage of facilities,” the NMC noted, describing how, in some locations, thieves unbolted entire toilet commodes and, when unable to remove them, deliberately broke them.

The cost of these repairs is steep. Nearly ₹1 crore was spent by the municipal administration last year alone to fix vandalised toilets and replace stolen parts.

Nagpur currently has dozens of public toilet complexes managed by contractors, but officials say the extent of vandalism often forces the city to step in for major repairs. The civic authority has even announced plans to install 37 new toilet facilities with a digital monitoring system, hoping better oversight might deter vandals.

Even city parks and public gardens are not spared. In areas lacking security patrols, everything from light fixtures to fountain nozzles has been pilfered for scrap value. Residents recall that parts of the Gandhibagh Park’s musical fountain were rendered defunct after thieves stole brass nozzles in the absence of guards, a crime motivated by the metal’s resale value.

Playground equipment and benches in some neighbourhood parks have also been found broken or defaced over time, making recreational spaces less inviting. Such incidents of petty vandalism and theft may not grab headlines like high-profile crimes, but they directly affect the quality of life for citizens. Community leaders say these acts of destruction erode public trust and create an atmosphere of neglect in the city’s shared spaces.

Transport Infrastructure Targeted

Nagpur’s public transport and other utilities have emerged as frequent targets for vandals in recent years. The city’s proud addition of a modern metro system in 2019 was soon followed by instances of defacement.

In August 2023, unidentified persons trespassed near the Khapri metro station at night and spray-painted graffiti across two coaches of a stationary Majhi Metro train.

Metro staff arriving the next morning found the colourful tags, including indecipherable words and symbols, sprawled on the exterior of the driver’s cabin and multiple cars. Police were informed and registered a case under the laws against defacement of public property.

Investigators noted the perpetrators likely scaled a six-foot fence topped with barbed wire to access the parked train, suggesting a determined effort. The incident, which appeared to emulate Western graffiti subculture, exposed a security lapse on an isolated stretch of track lacking CCTV surveillance.

Observers were surprised by the sophistication of the artwork; officials suspected that the vandals might be “professional artists”, given the style and the planning required to execute the graffiti without being caught.

Maha Metro, the operating company, responded by tightening security around metro depots and urging citizens to report any suspicious activity. “A formal complaint has been lodged with the Sonegaon police against the unidentified individuals responsible for this act,” Nagpur Metro’s spokesperson stated at the time, emphasising that vandalism of the metro, a symbol of city pride, would not be taken lightly.

Indian Railways' infrastructure in the Nagpur district and the surrounding Vidarbha region has also been repeatedly targeted.

In late 2022 and early 2023, miscreants pelted stones at the newly launched Nagpur–Bilaspur Vande Bharat Express train in multiple incidents, shattering the window panes of the high-speed coaches. On one occasion in February 2023, youths hurled rocks at the passing Vande Bharat near Kamptee (Kamthi), a town just outside Nagpur, cracking the glass of a C6 coach window. Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel managed to catch the young offenders in that instance. They were reportedly minors who were let off with a stern warning.

According to railway officials, this was the fourth such case of stone-pelting on that route within two months, following two similar attacks in December 2022 and another in January 2023. While no serious injuries were reported, the vandalism caused damage to the train and alarm among passengers.

Officials believe some of these acts were driven by mischief rather than any organised intent, but they nonetheless deployed patrols and community outreach to discourage further incidents. “We have installed CCTV cameras in all coaches and are intensifying trackside monitoring in sensitive stretches,” an RPF officer said, noting that pelting stones at trains is a criminal offence.

The recurring attacks on the Vande Bharat drew condemnation from the public and forced authorities to reassess security along the route.

Beyond high-profile cases, everyday public transport in Nagpur sees lower-level vandalism that often goes unreported.

Drivers of city buses occasionally return to depots with cracked windshields or dented panels caused by thrown objects. In one 2021 case, Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s city bus service reported a spate of smashed glass at bus stops and on buses, suspected to be the handiwork of local hooligans after dark.

Transport officials quietly replaced the panes and stepped up night patrolling of bus terminuses. The city’s Orange City buses, as well as long-distance state transport buses operating through Nagpur district, have had to reinforce window grills to prevent vandals or troublemakers from breaking in or causing damage during overnight halts. Though not linked to any protests or civil unrest, these random acts impact schedules and impose repair costs on the government.

Public utilities and infrastructure have also been prey to thieves and vandals seeking materials.

The Railway Protection Force’s annual report for 2024–25 revealed that Nagpur Division recorded one of the highest recoveries of stolen railway equipment in the Central Railway zone.

Over ₹33 lakh worth of stolen railway property was recovered in the division during that year, second only to Mumbai.

Authorities registered 84 cases and arrested 243 individuals in the Nagpur area for offences under the Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act.

The thefts ranged from signal cables and electric bulbs to fans, metal fittings and even pieces of rail track, which were illegally removed and sold as scrap. Such pilferage can compromise safety, stolen signal cables, for instance, risk train communication, and cause outages or disruptions. The RPF has responded with targeted night raids at scrapyards and continuous public awareness campaigns about the penalties for damaging public property. Similarly, the state electricity company reports that theft of transformer oil and copper wires in Nagpur’s outskirts remains a persistent issue, occasionally leading to power failures in localities.

Police in the smaller towns of Nagpur district have arrested gangs for stealing manhole covers, street light poles, and even stripping public borewell pumps for metal parts. These crimes, driven by monetary gain, exemplify the misuse and destruction of public assets that authorities are trying to clamp down on across Vidarbha’s urban and rural pockets.

Official Response and Public Outcry

The rise in non-political vandalism has prompted both stricter official action and vocal public criticism in Nagpur.

Law enforcement and civic officials say they are treating these incidents with a zero-tolerance approach, as each act of vandalism not only causes financial loss but also undermines public morale.

After the Nagpur bench theft episode, city police filed a case and used the viral CCTV clip to solicit leads on the perpetrators.

Municipal Commissioner Vijayalakshmi Bidari publicly condemned the theft as “unacceptable in a civilised society” in a press briefing, urging citizens to help protect common resources. Within days, police tracked down two suspects in the bench heist; local reports suggest the duo claimed they took the bench for personal use in their garden, highlighting an alarming casualness toward public property. They were booked under charges of theft, and the magistrate’s court released them on bail pending further investigation. This swift response was lauded by residents on social media, though it also triggered satire and soul-searching about civic sense.

Memes circulated about Nagpur’s “bench chor (thieves)”, even as columnists in Vidarbha’s newspapers called for more community vigilance to deter such behaviour.

When obscenity was found spray-painted on a public signboard in a high-security civil lines area in May 2025, citizens and authorities alike reacted with outrage.

The sign, a ‘Running Track’ direction board on Walker’s Street, had been defaced with lurid graffiti, including crude imagery of male genitalia, just steps away from judges’ bungalows and the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s Nagpur residence. “Such obscenity is sadly not uncommon at railway stations and public monuments.

But to see something like this in such a high-profile, well-guarded area is a shocking violation of public decorum,” said local resident Shrey Verma, whose morning walk route passes the spot. What disturbed many was that the graffiti remained visible for two days, apparently brushed off as a prank by passers-by, until a video of it went viral online. Only after the public furore did someone formally alert the police.

Inspector Manish Thakare of Sadar police station acknowledged that no complaint had been received initially, but after the media coverage, police registered a non-cognisable offence and alerted the NMC to remove the offensive markings. “We were not informed about the graffiti earlier. Now that it has come to our notice, we will follow protocol by informing the NMC, and a non-cognizable offence will be registered,” Inspector Thakare explained.

He added that footage from nearby CCTV cameras would be pulled to identify the culprits, vowing, “This kind of act cannot be tolerated. We will be tracking down those responsible.” The incident, though relatively minor in physical damage, reignited debate about vandalism in public spaces and the need for stricter surveillance and enforcement. It also embarrassed city officials that such an act could occur in a zone under constant security presence.

NMC crews were dispatched to scrub the sign, and there were calls for better lighting and more patrols, even in ostensibly secure areas.

Courts have also stepped in on certain matters, reflecting growing institutional concern. The public interest litigation regarding Nagpur’s filthy public toilets, for instance, pushed the NMC to detail its struggles with vandalism of those facilities.

The High Court was told how vandals effectively sabotage sanitation initiatives, a troubling scenario as the city campaigns to end open defecation. Judges directed state authorities and the Swachh Bharat Mission to respond with solutions, while observing that destroying public toilets betrays a lack of civic ethics.

In another case, back in 2019 (just before the timeframe of this report), Nagpur Metro officials had lodged an FIR after miscreants pasted posters on a newly built metro pillar on Wardha Road, invoking the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

That early action set a precedent, and since 2020, Nagpur police say they have booked dozens of people for defacing public walls with illegal advertisements or smashing government office windows in fits of anger. While political agitations are known to target public property at times, police note that many recent incidents in Nagpur district were devoid of any ideological motive.

They were acts of convenience or mischief. This makes prevention more challenging, as the culprits range from opportunistic scrap thieves to bored teenagers testing limits.

Public opinion in Nagpur has increasingly tilted toward demanding accountability and prevention. Outraged citizens have taken to local radio and community meetings to stress that such vandalism imposes hidden costs on everyone. “When a public park bench or a bus stop is wrecked, it’s our own tax money that pays for repairs or replacements,” noted Sheetal Mahalle, a teacher in a suburban part of the district, at a recent residents’ forum.

Her sentiment, that civic infrastructure is a shared responsibility, has been echoed by NGOs leading cleanliness drives. Some volunteer groups in Nagpur have begun patrolling heritage sites and gardens on weekends, acting as informal guardians against vandals.

In the adjacent towns of the district, like Kamptee and Ramtek, citizen committees are being mooted to keep an eye on local government schools and primary health centres after hours, to deter theft of equipment. Though these are stopgap measures, they signal the community’s frustration and willingness to step in.

A Persistent Challenge in Vidarbha

Despite stepped-up enforcement, the pattern of non-political vandalism in Nagpur district remains a persistent challenge. The authorities have scored some successes, recoveries of stolen public materials, quicker restoration of damaged property, and identification of repeat offenders, yet new incidents continue to crop up.

Each act of theft or defacement, whether for profit or puerile thrill, ultimately hampers public services and mars the city’s image.

Officials acknowledge that deeper solutions may lie in public education and inculcating a sense of ownership among citizens for public assets.

For now, Nagpur’s civic administration and police are concentrating on vigilance: increasing CCTV coverage, conducting surprise inspections at vulnerable spots, and enforcing existing laws more rigorously.

As Nagpur and the wider Vidarbha region develop infrastructure at a rapid pace, from smart city projects to new highways, protecting these assets from vandalism will remain a key concern.

The recent years have shown that vigilance cannot wane. A solitary mischief-maker or petty thief can undo community progress overnight.

Residents and authorities are thus locked in an ongoing effort to safeguard the city’s common spaces. In the words of one exhausted NMC maintenance officer, repairing yet another shattered public restroom facility, “We fix what’s broken, but it’s everyone’s job to stop the breaking in the first place.” The hope is that with sustained awareness and strict action, Nagpur’s public infrastructure can be preserved for the citizens it is meant to serve, and that scenes of benches on scooters or graffiti on metro coaches become a thing of the past.