Central parts of the city, including Dakbungalow road, Patna Junction roundabout, Fraser Road and SP Verma Road, are likely to face drainage worries this rainy season.

The delay in the completion of construction of the underground drainage project connecting sump houses on SP Verma Road with Mandiri Nullah, may result in waterlogging.

Though the initial deadline for completion of the work was the end of January,  around 20 per cent work still remains to be done. 

Officials at Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo), the executing agency, said the contractor has agreed to a fresh deadline of June 20 for completion of the project. 

Southwest monsoon is to strike Bihar on June 10 according to schedule. It normally covers the entire state within two days. Even though the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted a one-week delay in the onset of monsoon, the sluggish pace of the work has cast a shadow on the drainage before the rains start. Rainwater from a majority areas of central Patna is discharged into the pumping station at SP Verma Road. If the ongoing drainage project is not completed before monsoon, there could be severe waterlogging in this part of the city.

“A meeting was held between the firm executing the project and our chief general manager on Tuesday,” said a senior official at BUIDCo. “The firm has committed to completing the project by June 20.”

BUIDCo started work on the drainage project worth Rs 9.96 crore last March to solve central Patna’s waterlogging menace. Pipelines have been laid on the majority of SP Verma Road, Fraser Road, in front of Patna Museum and near Mandiri Nullah. 

“According to our documents, around 20 per cent works, including joining the pipelines at different road intersections, are yet to be completed,” said the official. “We are imploring the contractor to complete the work before the rains begin.”

Deliberating on the cause of delay, the official said: “The civic work involved in this project was difficult. We got stuck on various occasions because of civic utilities in the way, including electric, telephone and Internet wires. The pipelines came from other states which also took some time.”

Officials at Patna Municipal Corporation are apprehensive of the consequence if the project is not completed on time. 

“As the project is still not complete, the outlet for waste water is hardly there,” said an official preferring anonymity. “If we start the sump house at SP Verma Road, the station roundabout gets inundated. If we do not operate it, the roundabout near Maurya Lok and Fraser Road will be waterlogged. We are managing to flow the waste water out of the area now but the situation will go out of control once monsoon rains start.”

The project, upon completion, is expected to solve waterlogging problems in central Patna areas.