RAISING A STINK: The open drain near IT roundabout. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, April 29: The centrally located Income Tax Roundabout has become the latest testimony of gross negligence of civic hygiene on the part of the municipal authorities in the state capital.

An open drain to the left of the roundabout, while coming from Bailey Road, has been a source of foul smell for the past two weeks. In spite of being located in the heart of the city, the stench, similar to that of rotten carcass, has failed to draw the attention of the municipal officers of the area.

The spot, close to the recently constructed public toilet on the same stretch, has lent a bad odour to the daily commuters on the route. The rickshaw pullers, who wait there for hours waiting for passengers, and vendors who sell newspapers and government job forms in open stalls are helpless sufferers.

Lallan, one of the rickshaw pullers waiting for passengers near Income Tax Roundabout, said: “We generally wait in this area for passengers who get down from autos. But the stench has become so unbearable these days that we are parking our rickshaws on the other side of the roundabout.”

Although cleanliness and hygiene are taken care of in and around the public toilet in the area, the show of maintenance goes down the drain, literally, if goes a few steps farther.

Abhishek, a student who lives in the Mandiri locality nearby, said: “Every day, I walk home from my coaching institute on Boring Road chouraha. It is more like a leisurely stroll with friends. However, these past few days, as we near the roundabout, the smell becomes nauseating. Had it been in a narrow lane or a bylane, the delay in attending to the problem could have been understood. But being on the main road, the matter commands prompt action.”

On being asked about the probable cause behind the delay in attending to the problem, Shashank Shekhar, executive officer, New Patna Zone, under which Income Tax Roundabout falls, expressed ignorance. Shekhar, however, promised prompt action if the complaint was found to be genuine.

The state capital can now boast of better roads and infrastructure development. Still there are aspects that need to be professionally dealt with.

With the onset of monsoon, choked, overflowing and foul-smelling drains are a regular phenomenon in the city.

Recently, residents of Patna City area staged a dharna demanding de-silting of clogged drains which have forced dirty water on to the lanes in the locality. The residents complained that continuous waterlogging in the area has started to take a toll on their health.

“My two children are suffering from diarrhoea and the doctors says that it has occurred because of infection from the contaminated water,” said Girija Devi, a resident of Humad Lane.

So desperate are the residents of the locality that some of them are even thinking of selling off their houses and moving to a better locality.

Let us hope efforts are taken ahead this year to ensure disease-free, hygienic living.