Date – 31^st Jan , 1^st Feb & 2^nd Feb 2024

Time : Full Day 9:00am to 5pm), Discussion (9pm to 11pm)

Venue– Bhandara City

Participants – Faculty members: Ar. Namrata Tharwani, Ar. Poornima Deshpande & Ar. Tanvi Burghate and students of 2^nd sem M.arch Urban Design, SMMCA Seminary Hills Nagpur.

Co-ordinator – Ar. Namrata Tharwani

About the Visit :

The students of M.Arch UD 2^nd semester visited bhandara town which was recently hit with a major flood in the year 2020 and with minor flooding in recent years to study and collect data for the design Studio brief titled Flood mitigation through Water Sensitive Urban Designs (WSUDs). The visit was organized by M.Arch UD HOD Ar.Namrata Gaurkhede with communication through the collector and the assistant town planner of Bhandara town few weeks ahead of visiting. Students were expected to visit government officials / department to collect appropriate data that is required for analysis and formulation of strategies after returning to Nagpur. As the town is one hour away from Nagpur city by road it was important to cover all our bases in data collection process beforehand to ensure a streamlined experience. Students had traced certain areas of National highway passing through Bhandara town as one of its major spines and few core areas to record data, as part of their pre-study. Students also did case studies in the previous week of visiting bhandara to understand how flood affects cities and therefore an appropriate questionnaire was created to collect data from general public and government officials.

Day 1

1. Students gathered at Ganeshpeth ST bus stand and left for Bhandara at 8:00 am.
2. Reached Circuit house Bhandara at 9:00 am.
3. Breakfast and pre-visit discussion at Circuit House.
4. Meeting with Assistant Town Planner at Bhandara Municipal Council.
5. Visit to Pump Station at bund wall with ATP & Meeting with Site Engineer.
6. Site data collection based on selected areas in meeting in groups of 2 students & public surveys. Concluded at 6:00 pm.
7. 6 – 9 pm Leisure time – town exploring. (Heritage sites – Pande Mahal)
8. 9:00 pm meeting with Teachers – Reporting back data collected during the day and planning for next day activities.

Day 2

9. Site data collection & Surveys. based on selected areas in groups of 2 students & public surveys.
10. Meeting with disaster management in-charge at Office of District Collector.
11. Site data collection based on selected areas in meeting in groups of 2 students & public surveys. Concluded at 6:00 pm.
12. 9:00 pm meeting with Teachers – Reporting back data collected during the day and planning for next day activities.

Day 3

13. Concluding Site data collection & Surveys.

Students left for Nagpur by Bus at 1:00 pm.

Meeting with assistant town planner – Bhandara Municipal Council

Discussion with ATP based on early draft of Development plan regarding its formulation and steps taken to ensure flood resistance on town level planning. Inquiries regarding storm water drainage and sewage treatment. Request for data was done in a pen drive.

Meeting with site engineer – Flood water pumps – Bund Protection Project

ATP accompanied the students to an ongoing project of bund protection water pumping station in bund wall boundary. Pumps of 1000 HP installed to removed flood water entered inside bund walls

Meeting with disaster management officer – Office of district collector.

Discussion with disaster management officer informed the students about the funnel effect of the Wainganga river basin on Bhandara, students were provided with data and schematic layouts to further understand the causes of flooding.