PATNA: Even after more than 48 hours of modest rainfall in Patna, most
of city areas were still waterlogged exposing the preparedness of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) to tackle such a crisis.

The civic body were unable to drain out rain water from Bari Path,
Vachaspati Nagar, Biscomuan Colony, Patel Nagar, Chandmari Road, Postal
Park, Bailey Road, Rajendra Nagar and Bachaspati Nagar till the filing
the report.

Shockingly, the civic body had spent Rs 1.23 crore
on cleaning the city drains during the pre-monsoon season but all went
in vein. The brief spell of the rainfall (33.4 mm) exposed the condition
of the drainage system in the city.

“Sump houses of the Saidpur
Jogipur could not work for fours hours on Tuesday as there was no
electricity supply. In fact, the two sump houses each of 198 HP and 375
HP respectively are inadequate to drain out the rain water,” said PMC
chief engineer Ravindra Kumar.

He said that the drains constructed by the road construction department
(RCD) and rural engineering organization (REO) are of no use. All the
drains of Bari Path, Vachaspati Nagar, Biscomuan Colony, Patel Nagar,
Chandmari Road, Postal Park and Bailey Road were constructed above road
level and due to encroachment over drains water hardly passes through
the drains, he said.

Ashok Kumar, a resident of Rajendra Nagar,
said that three hours of rain made the situation worse. The dirty water
is entering our homes, he rued. Similar situation was seen in Bachaspati
Nagar, where poor civic condition, arising out of waterlogging and poor
conditions of roads, has made life miserable for the residents. “We
have been complaining about the problem of waterlogging for the past
many years to the authorities concerned. But our concerns appears to
have fallen on deaf ears,” said Anita Shastri, a housewife and a
resident of Bachaspati Nagar.

Almost every locality witnessed
heavy waterlogging. In Bankipore, while choked drainage system led to
waterlogging, bad roads added to the miseries of the residents. The area
also remained without power for more than three hours on August 14 when
the brief spell of rain gripped the city.

“It becomes difficult for us to go out, even after the rain stops,” said Usha Singh, a housewife.Slushy and potholed roads aggravated the problem of commuters. People
waded through the filthy rainwater. “The choked drains have made the
area very dirty,” said Anuj Tewari, a lawyer.