Buckets to collect rainwater and (top) water seeps from the leak in the roof (encircled) at Buddha Smriti Park in Patna. Telegraph pictures

Patna, July 20: Tourists to Buddha Smriti Park would be well advised to carry umbrellas. Water has been seeping in through the faulty dome of the stupa after the incessant rain, compelling the park authorities to keep buckets under the holes.

Sources said the water seeping in because of technical faults could damage the wooden floors and Buddhist relics that have been brought from Sri Lanka, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar and South Korea and installed inside the stupa.

A meeting of the Buddha Smriti Park executive committee was held today at the office of the divisional commissioner of Patna, K.P. Ramaiyah. He said the committee had unanimously decided to give directives to the contractor of the park to resolve all technical faults of the central stupa at the earliest.

The contractor of Buddha Smriti Park is Parshwanth Developers Limited. They have been asked to remove the shutter and the false ceiling of the dome.

Sources said the shutter (wooden planks to support casting) and cloth ceiling had not been removed despite instructions from the engineers of Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo), the agency responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the shrine.

The Telegraph, in its July 16, 2011, edition had reported about the faults in the Buddha Smriti Park.

Lall and Associates — a Delhi-based architecture company that designed the monument — have passed the buck for the faulty construction of the park to the contractor.

Vikram Lall, the owner of Lall and Associates, in a letter (dated June 29, 2011) to the managing director of BUIDCo complained about the delay in the completion of the phase I of the park. In the letter, a copy of which is with The Telegraph, the work on the first phase had been delayed despite repeated reminders.

The letter also states that 18 missives had been sent to the contractor from February 2010, requesting them to provide shop drawings and certifications for the structural glazing system and the bullet-resistant cage. However, till date, there had been no response to them. While concluding, the letter suggests that if the contractor is unable to complete the work on time, a third party should be appointed to finish it.

Lall and Associates does not have an office in Patna. Lall said: “The entire work for the Buddha Smriti Park project was done from my office in Delhi.”

According to clause 4 of an agreement between Bihar State Urban Development Corporation Limited and Lall and Associates, dated May 18, 2009, the consultant is supposed to deploy a supervising engineer at the site of construction. But no such supervising engineer has been appointed. The entire work on the park was supposed to be completed in 2010. But the project is still far from completion.