Mayor Afzal Imam addresses the PMC general body meeting in Patna on Monday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

The general body meeting of Patna Municipal Corporation on Monday was scheduled to discuss solid waste management issue but waterlogging took centre stage.

Thanks to the waterlogging crisis in which Patna has landed recently, most of the ward councillors raised the issue of drain cleaning, forgetting what was the real agenda.

Insiders said the agenda was changed at the last minute so that a more important issue could be discussed considering monsoon was at its peak.

The ward councillors asked mayor Afzal Imam why they were not provided funds to carry out the work before monsoon, which caused severe waterlogging problem in many areas. “Prabhu Ram, the additional municipal commissioner, acquainted the mayor that the PMC standing committee had issued Rs 2.65 crore to clean up the drains of Patna. But only Rs 46 lakh has been spent on the work. The mayor asked the additional municipal commissioner to give details of the rest of the money and why it was not provided to the councillors so that they could carry out the work on time. But he could not provide details,” said a PMC official.

Abha Lata, the councillor of ward number four, said residents were blaming them because they have not carried out the work of drain cleaning on time. “The fact is that ward councillors were not provided funds for executing the work. We are facing the wrath of the residents for no fault of ours,” said Lata.

Ram also told the councillors that each of them would be entitled to Rs 4 lakh for installing LED lights in their wards. “The standing committee has approved the funds. Soon councillors would get them,” he said.