A schoolgirl covers her nose as she passes a garbage dump in Patna City on Thursday. Picture by Sachin

Patna, Sept. 29: Snarls are nothing new in the narrow lanes of Patna City but the conditions become even more grim in the run up to Navratra.

Sanitation has taken a beating in the area with Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) failing to rise to the occasion and provide prompt services.

Sources said the waste collection points in Patna City are all earmarked on the main road leading to chaos during all hours of the day. Now, a number of Durga Puja pandals on the roadside and a steep rise in the number of visitors at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib has only worsened the situation. Vehicles are caught in serpentine snarls thanks to heaps of garbage lying in middle of the road at several points.

Residents and shopkeepers in the old part of the state capital complain that the condition is deteriorating with each day and allege that the civic body officials are apathetic towards sanitation in the area.

Sujan Singh, a resident of Machharhatta, said: “The Gurdwara Bangla Sahib is in the area and thousands of visitors come here every day. During Navratra, the number of devotees goes up. In this situation, rather than making special arrangements for garbage collection, the PMC officials do not even carry out routine cleaning.”

Bhaumik Verma, a trader in the Khajekala area of Patna City, said: “As the autorickshaws in this part of the city are run mostly on kerosene, their fumes become intolerable during the snarls. But what option do we have other than inhaling the poisonous fumes. All this is happening because of the callous attitude of the PMC authorities,” he added.

PMC authorities, meanwhile, said the situation has more difficult after the withdrawal of services by A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited over the non-payment of bills.

Executive officer of Patna City circle Narendra Nath said: “Although the waste collection points have always been on the road, the private firm had provided us with waste bins, which were later by machines. The bins are no longer there and garbage is dumped on the road leading to traffic snarls. But we do get the waste collected twice a day.”

Asked why the waste collection points cannot be shifted anywhere else, Nath said the PMC has little choice in the matter. “Patna City is known for its narrow streets and by-lanes. If things have to change, it can only happen if the roads are widened. The government has to decide on that,” he told The Telegraph.