A biker makes his way through a waterlogged street at Patliputra Colony in Patna on Saturday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Sept. 7: The upscale Patliputra Colony remained under knee-deep water for the fifth consecutive day raising questions about the ability of the authorities to tackle waterlogging.

The Patliputra Co-operative Society looks after the civic responsibilities of the area and refuses to come under the ambit of the Patna Municipal Corporation.

“Though the streets are waterlogged every year during monsoon and the rainwater enters the houses, I have never seen this situation to continue for so many days. This shows that the Patliputra Co-operative Society is completely inefficient in tackling this issue,” said Akhauri B. Prasad, the owner of House No. 158 in Patliputra Colony.

The society has two pumping stations of 40 horsepower each, which are considered insufficient to cater to the colony during heavy rain. The Bihar Rajya Jal Parishad that looks after the rest of the city, has 36 pumping stations with an average horsepower of 270-425.

The society chairman, P.K. Verma, however, said rainwater had been drained out from all the streets, except one or two by today. Asked how the co-operative society did it, he said: “After the level of the Ganga along Patna dipped, the gates of our drainage line that goes to the river were opened.”

The flood bulletin issued by the Central Water Commission today said otherwise.

The level of the Ganga was 43cm below the danger level at Digha Ghat and 46cm above the danger level at Gandhi Ghat.

Sources in the water resources department also said gates of none of the drainage lines going into the Ganga have been opened yet because of apprehensions the river water might enter the city.

To the residents’ problem of waterlogging is their added danger from open manholes.

Abrahim Demyson, who lives in house number 35A at New Patliputra Colony, said: “On Wednesday, my son’s bicycle got stuck in an open manhole at the entry point of road number 3 at New Patliputra Colony. Another day, a couple fell off their bike into knee-deep water right at my doorstep.”

An urban development and housing department officer said: “We can develop a new drainage network with a high-capacity pumping station for the residents of Patliputra this season. But we can’t do so till the society keeps itself out of municipal limits. They have chosen their own fate.”