A man wades through water at the New Jakkanpur area in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

The judiciary on Tuesday has pulled up senior administrative officials to get rid of waterlogging in various areas of Patna.

The tough stand of Patna High Court came to the fore during a hearing on waterlogging issue as the court took strong exception to the failure of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the state urban development and housing department to rid the city of waterlogging menace.

The court also set Friday as deadline to get rid of waterlogging or hence strict strictures would be passed not only against the officials present in the court but also the government.

On Tuesday, as soon as the hearing of the case began, lawyers in the courtroom showed newspaper clippings to the bench of Justice V.N. Sinha and Justice P.K. Jha, apprising it of several areas still submerged in water. The areas included Ashok Nagar in Kankarbagh, Police Colony (Anisabad), Kalyani Colony, Vashistha Colony, Shivaji Path, Yarpur, Jakkanpur, Ramlakhan Path, Mahatma Gandhi Path, Bengali Tola, Khemni Chak, kumharar, Kisan Colony, Hanuman Nagar, Vidyapuri, HIG flats in Kankerbagh, north Karbighaiya and Postal Park.

The bench then asked PMC commissioner Kuldip Narayan and urban development and housing department secretary Sandeep Poundrik, who were present in the court, as how much time they would take to remove water from these areas. “After August 15, there has been no heavy rain in the city. Ten days has passed since then and you are not able to remove the accumulated water from the waterlogged areas,” said Justice Sinha.

The bar told the bench that all drains are choked on which Justice Sinha said: “The solution of this will be taken up later. First, we have to ensure that all the areas are rid of waterlogging and then we will draw a plan of how to combat it. Waterlogging happens everywhere in Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta but it recedes while in Patna it remains for several days. We can copy from Calcutta how water recedes there. Mr Poundrik, there was a waterbody in the past in front of Gandhi Maidan traffic police station where now stands a statue of a great leader. Statue is good but what about the discharge of the rainwater?”

The lawyers apprised the bench that despite the court’s directive no effort has been taken by the PMC to remove water from the areas. The lawyers also complained the non-cooperative attitude of the PMC staff in clearing water.

The lawyers then told the bench that the claim made by Poundrik and Narayan that the Punpun and the Ganga are flowing marginally to the danger mark is wrong and that they can file an undertaking in this regard that both these rivers are flowing much below the danger mark level. They also said the Badshahi Nullah in Kankerbagh near New Bypass is choked. The lawyers also said no homework has been done by the PMC on which Justice Sinha said: “The homework can be done only by the commissioner.”

Narayan told the court that new pump houses are needed to cope with the situation on which the bench said: “This will not come in a day.”

Poundrik admitted that some water is there at Ramlakhan Path on which Justice Sinha said: “I want the area to be dry.”

Justice Sinha was so annoyed that at one point of time, saying: “My mind is out.”

The lawyers also complained to the bench that DDT spray and fogging are not being done properly in areas from where water has been removed. The court then directed PMC to submit report in the next hearing with respect to bleaching and lime spray in a particular area at a given time along with cellphone numbers and signatures of the two witnesses from that area.