The "infamous" rift between the mayor and commissioner at Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) resurfaced once more.

Municipal commissioner Jai Singh did not attend the meeting of empowered standing committee on Tuesday while mayor Afzal Imam criticised the ongoing monsoon-preparedness works being monitored by the former.

Similar situation used to take place when Kuldip Narayan was commissioner. The relationship between Narayan and Imam turned sour and finally the commissioner had to be changed following months-long battle in police stations and courts.

Imam claimed that a lot of issues could not be taken up in the meeting on Tuesday due to absence of the municipal commissioner.

"I don't know why the commissioner did not attend the meeting even though he was there in the office. There are several issues, such as progress in the procurement of solid waste management equipment, which could not be discussed because the commissioner was not present in the meeting," said Imam.

The meeting of the standing committee on Tuesday started with a delay of around half-an-hour after additional municipal commissioner Shrisat Kapil Ashok came in place of Jai.

Jai was not available for a comment on his absence though.

The mayor expressed strong dissatisfaction with the progress in the drainage cleaning and garbage removal works. "Even though monsoon is knocking on the doors, the drainage cleaning work is going quite slow at many places in the city. The sanitation work is also not being done properly," said Imam.

The drainage cleaning works ahead of monsoon is normally scheduled to start by February 15 every year but it did not start even by March-end in most parts of the city this time. Funds to the tune of Rs 4.75 crore have been allocated for the drainage cleaning works in all the four PMC circles.

The standing committee also decided to allot a shop at Maurya Lok Complex to city-based conjoined twins Sabah and Farah. The headquarters of the PMC is situated at Maurya Lok.

The mayor also raised strong reservations with regard to absence of municipal secretary Aarti in the meeting for briefing the committee on the status of issue of mutiny for property transfer.