The lack of rainy days this year has scarcely come as a relief for residents of Patliputra, as most places in the area are under water for the past two days.

On the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, the city got 23.2mm rain. Till 8pm on Sunday, it got 15.3mm more.

The result: Most areas of Patliputra Colony went under water, forcing people to stay at home for the weekend.

“The water entered our compound on Friday night. Our garage and servants’ quarters were flooded,” said Usha Singh, 72, a resident of house number 3 of Patliputra Colony. “The standing water may start to stink soon. In such conditions, the fear of snakes is also playing on our minds.”

She added that waterlogging was a regular feature in the area, which is also home to social welfare minister Parveen Amanullah and former president of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee Chaudhary Mehboob Ali Kaiser.

Water has entered the homes of both the political leaders as well but they were unavailable for comment. Besides them, judges and bureaucrats also live in the area.

Those suffering the most are senior citizens, for whom it is impossible to venture out in such conditions.

“I have been sitting on my bed for two days as there is knee-deep water in our house. I am very old and suffer from hypertension. It is very difficult to live in such conditions,” said 80-year-old resident of house number 49, Shila Prasad.

The area is not under the jurisdiction of Patna Municipal Corporation. Civic responsibilities are vested in Patliputra Co-operative Society.

Residents of the area claim that repeated complaints about the awful civic conditions have fallen on deaf ears.

“We have made several requests to the cooperative society to clean the water from our premises and the roads,” said Afshain Hussain, who lives in house number 142 of Patliputra Colony.

He added: “But like previous years, nothing has been done by the society to provide relief to the residents.”

Besides homes, other facilities, too, are suffering from the problem.

The tennis courts of Bihar Lawn Tennis Association on road number 4A have turned into shallow swimming pools.

“It takes two days to repair the tennis courts if they are submerged under water. For the last two days, they have been under water,” said Akhauri B. Prasad, the secretary of the association, adding that the colony needs a large pump to drain out the water.

He added: “Of the two small pumps, one has been out of order for long.”

P.K. Verma, chairman, Patliputra Cooperative Society, claimed that both pumps (of 40HP capacity) are working to pump out the water.

He, however, refused to give a time frame in which the standing water would be cleared out.

Giving different reasons for waterlogging in the area (see graphics), Verma said there was no immediate plan of purchasing a pump of higher capacity for the society.