An overflowing drain in front of the Gaya Municipal Corporation headquarters. Picture by Suman

Gaya, May 31: Monsoon might already be knocking on the door but the Gaya Municipal Corporation (GMC) authorities, it seems, are yet to wake up from slumber. The civic body had issued tenders worth Rs 35 lakh for cleaning 31 big drains of Gaya town in the beginning of April, but work at many places is yet to start.

The irony is compounded as no one filled up the tender for at least 10 big drains. Moreover, the pace of work at 21 other drains is going on at a snail’s pace.

Every year, GMC issues tenders for cleaning of drains before monsoon to prevent waterlogging. However, delay in start of work has been a regular affair, a ward councillor of the municipal corporation told The Telegraph. Citing example, he said a tender worth Rs 8.41 lakh was issued for cleaning Kujapi drain with a deadline of April 16. But cleaning work has not yet started.

In case of heavy downpour, areas, including Durga Bari, Ramsagar (east and west), Chand Chaura, Makhlautganj, Bangala Asthan, Bairagi, Tekari road, Purani godown and even the Gaya collectorate campus gets inundated with knee-deep water. Drains choked by polythene bags is a major cause of waterlogging.

“After no one turned up to fill up the tender for cleaning at least 10 big drains out of the total 31 for which tender had been issued, now the municipal corporation has decided to get the work done on its own,” GMC executive engineer Rama Raman Singh told The Telegraph. Apart from the tender, cleaning of drains in all 53 wards was being done by regular cleaning staff of the corporation, he said.

Apart from issuing the tender, GMC has also made an agreement with a private company, RAMKY, to ensure cleanliness in and around Gaya town. RAMKY has been doing cleaning work of at least 16 important roads falling in seven wards of the municipal corporation. Anil Kumar Singh of RAMKY said until the drains are not de-clogged, cleaning work cannot be completed.

Senior RAMKY official Niraj Kumar Singh told The Telegraph: “Although we were doing the work for the past 11 months, only Rs 18.48 lakh had been paid, while we have done work worth around Rs 2 crore. To ensure quality work, we need payment on regular basis,” he said.