The district administration has taken a slew of measures to ensure that the city doesn’t sink when heavy rain lashes it this monsoon.

“We are ready to counter the threat and mitigate the annual problem. Dredging and cleaning of all major drains are on. The Patna divisional commissioner and the commissioner of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) held a meeting on June 23 to chalk out the strategies,” Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh told The Telegraph on the sidelines of his weekly janata darbar on Thursday.

“The two officers had an elaborate discussion on the issue and chalked out all possible steps that could be taken for the residents’ convenience. Our priority would be to minimise waterlogging in the city,” he added.

On the measures to tackle the menace, the district magistrate said, “In the first place, PMC officials have been asked to get the drainage system cleaned. Every monsoon, the drains get choked by plastic bags. The drains in Saidpur, Bankipore and Badshahi have been almost cleaned, while the process to dredge the one at Rajiv Nagar is on.”

He added: “It is important to clean all the major drains before heavy rain lashes the city. This is the only way to maintain normal flow of water and ensure that there’s no waterlogging. PMC officials have been asked to remove all encroachments over the drains. I have issued the necessary order for this. The action is important because JCB machines can clean the drains only when the encroachments have been removed.”

The district administration had last year, too, come up with similar promises, but failed to keep its word. Areas such as Machhuatoli, Lohanipur, Kadam Kuan, Dariyapur, Kankerbagh and Rajendra Nagar remained under knee-deep water last monsoon.

The residents of these areas had to wade through knee-deep and waist-deep water. There were occasions when they could not even come out of their houses, while vehicles getting stuck on waterlogged streets were an every-day affair.

Singh said, “There are some areas that face the problem of water logging every year because of construction and obstruction. I admit that there were problems last year. But this year we will make sure that such situations are not repeated. We have hired some high-powered pumping sets to drain out water from the areas and ensure that there’s no waterlogging.”

He added that the PMC officials have started cleaning manholes across the city. “The manholes often get choked because heaps of garbage are thrown into them. The civic body has deputed labourers to clean the manholes,” the magistrate said.

Another problem that is quite common during monsoon is incidents of drowning at various ghats in the city. “The water level of the Ganga rises alarmingly when it rains. Adequate number of trained divers will be deployed at all the vulnerable ghats,” Singh added.