Pedestrians use this stretch of the pavement in front of Buddha Park as an open-air urinal. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, Oct. 28: Promises are made to be broken. This Diwali, the state government authorities managed to break two.

The proposals to start Mercedes air-conditioned (AC) inter-city and inter-state bus service before Diwali have come a cropper. The smooth ride promise on the Frazer Road stretch in front of Buddha Smriti Park before the festival also missed the deadline.

The state transport department had promised in mid-October to gift inter-city and inter-state AC buses to citizens on Diwali. The same deadline, ironically, was set collectively by the civic body authorities and the state road construction department (RCD) officials to complete the repair work on the Frazer Road stretch in front of the internationally acclaimed Buddhist shrine in the state capital.

Brishen Patel, the state transport minister, said: “We were expecting the first consignment of AC buses any day before Diwali but unfortunately the delivery is still awaited because of the laggard attitude of the manufacturer.”

Patel had told The Telegraph on October 12 that his department would start the AC bus services by Diwali.

Sources in the transport department said papers for the awaited 32 Mercedes buses had been received and the buses were expected to arrive after Chhath. “As the delivery of the buses is expected in the first week of November, the inauguration can be expected by November 10,” said a transport department official.

Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) will operate the buses on 17 routes across two states. While 10 of these routes would connect Patna with the other district headquarters in Bihar, seven routes would take commuters from Patna, Gaya and Bhagalpur to four district headquarters in Jharkhand. The BSRTC has obtained the permit for Bihar-Jharkhand routes and the corporation is waiting for the buses to arrive.

Likewise, the repair of the Frazer Road stretch in front of Buddha Smriti Park are far from over. The pavement on this stretch is incomplete at various places. Even the leakage in the water supply line near Patna Junction roundabout has not been plugged. Garbage strewn all over the road compounds the woes of commuters.

On October 7, officials of the RCD, the civic body and the district administration passed an order to shape up the entire stretch by Diwali. Barring the 70m-stretch at the entrance of the park, no work has been done elsewhere.

Pratyay Amrit, the road construction department secretary, claimed that most of the repair work assigned to his department had been completed. “We were supposed to complete the pavement work at the entrance of the shrine and provide angular-drainage along the entire pavement. Till date, we have put paver blocks at the entrance and have raised the structure. Angular drainage lines have been provided between the paver blocks for clear outlet of water. Some miscellaneous works are yet to be completed. These would be done by Chhath,” Amrit said.