Patna Municipal Corporation board meeting in progress at SK Puri Hall in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Bihar Urban Development Authority’s project of sinking 31 new borewells in Patna has triggered a war of sorts among Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) councillors, who are all out to woo voters ahead of the civic elections in May this year.

Ward councillors feel that water supply by the government water agency is inadequate. So they consider ensuring proper water supply in their respective areas as an opportunity to win voters’ hearts.

If visits to senior functionaries were not enough, ward councillors questioned mayor Afzal Imam and commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pal at the PMC board meeting on Thursday and demanded that the locations be decided afresh.

Talking to The Telegraph on the sidelines of the meeting, Imam said the first phase of the Rs 426-crore mega water supply project was being undertaken to ensure supply of groundwater and treated water from the Ganga across the entire city through a network of underground channels.

“The new borewells are in addition to about 70 functional ones. Bihar Urban Development Authority recently undertook the PMC project and has finished sinking eight borewells. There is a fierce fight for the remaining 23, even as locations for all of them have been decided,” he said.

“A number of councillors are adamant that borings be done in their areas. It has put a lot of pressure on the administrative officials who cannot change the decision now,” he added.

Many councillors, however, seemed dissatisfied with the selection of areas and accused senior urban development department officers of “favouritism”.

At Thursday’s meeting, councillor Hemlata Verma alleged that senior PMC officers and Imam had “connived” to shift the location from her area, Ashram Gali, to Sheikhpura, which falls under councillor Abha Lata’s ward.

“There has been a conspiracy against some ward councillors, while some have been favoured. It should be thoroughly investigated,” she said, even as the PMC commissioner reiterated that the urban development department decided on the locations and not the civic body.

Mohammad Quraishi, who represents ward number 64, said it was unfair that the project involved sinking of only 31 borewells when there are 72 wards. Most of the wards are reeling under water crisis even before summer, he said.

“Bihar Rajya Jal Parshad failed to meet the residents’ demands. There are some people who afford to go for individual borings. But there are lakhs who are totally dependent on civic water supply and their requirements should be fulfilled, too. Water is the most basic need of any area and if I fail to fulfil that, with what face will I go and ask the people to vote for me in the upcoming election?” he asked.

Dhirendra Verma, the councillor of ward number 63, said: “The choice of areas for sinking the borewells is not good. It will leave out a large population craving for water. We certainly need many more borewells. At present, the length of the water pipeline in the city is 700km. It implies that how ineffective our system is.”

The PMC authorities said the councillors should understand that the water supply project, to be implemented by Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation, would solve the problem for the entire city.

“The scheme involves construction of two water treatment plants in the capital. While one will treat surface water from river Ganga, the other will treat groundwater. Through the scheme, every household in the city will have piped drinking water and the issue will be solved once and for all,” said Pal.