The Patna Municipal Corporation's (PMC's) inability to complete de-silting work plus a lackadaisical attitude of residents means miseries will compound for the city this monsoon.

De-silting of various drains, including Mandiri, Kurji, Rajeev Nagar, Nehru Nagar and others, is yet to be completed. And many residents continue to strew garbage into drains, clogging them and increasing chances of waterlogging when the rains do arrive in full force.

On Thursday, The Telegraph visited several localities and it found floating material in drains. At some places, garbage was strewn outside the drains and had washed back into the drain with rainwater.

While the PMC authorities admitted that de-silting was incomplete at a few places, they also pinned the blame on the practice of disposing filth into the drains.

At Mandiri, a huge amount of garbage was strewn outside a drain. Floating material, including plastic, were visible.

Sonu Kumar, a resident, said the municipal corporation had not removed garbage and had simply kept it along the roadside. He said: "The pre-monsoon shower washed garbage back into the drain. Residents, too, are responsible for the floating garbage. The open drain here encourages people to throw garbage and hence the drain gets further clogged. The people are more to blame. The corporation should fine residents for dumping garbage in the drain. I don't know what is stopping the civic body from imposing penalties when it has already introduced fines for disposing garbage on the streets from May 2."

PMC's New Capital circle's executive officer Vishal Anand said the civic body had got the Mandiri drain cleaned with a poclain machine.

He said: "This is the only drain which has been cleaned with a proclaim machine. A portion of the waste, which was removed from the drain and kept outside might not have been removed from the site. However, most of the garbage was removed. Residents, mainly from the slum areas, have been throwing garbage into the drain due to which it got clogged."

Asked why fines were not being imposed on such residents, Vishal said the corporation will start the practice very soon.

The Telegraph team found waste was not properly removed from Kurji, Bakerganj, Nehru Nagar and Saidpur drains.

Vishal said he would get de-silting work completed in his circle by June 19.

Sources said during a meeting three days ago, urban development and housing minister Maheshwari Hazari has given clear-cut instructions to the municipal corporation and Bihar Rajya Jal Parshad (BRJP) to get the drains and sump houses cleaned at the earliest and ensure that the city does not face waterlogging this monsoon.

While PMC is supposed to ensure cleaning of drains, the BRJP has to ensure cleaning of the sump houses.

BRJP officials have been told that they could take the help of the corporation employees to clean the sump houses.