Wires from the transformer touch the underconstruction Durga Puja pandal at Panch Mukhi Mandir, partially blocking Boring Canal Road in Patna on Monday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Associated more with exuberance, festivals also bring with it civic scars.

Poor condition of roads in Patna has become usual and people have started living with it. But ahead of the festivals and after it, the condition of roads is the worst. Commuters and pedestrians are left with partly dug-up streets, loose concrete and damaged pavements.

The Telegraph visited four in-the-making Durga Puja pandals and found that the puja committees had not only blocked portions of the roads on which the pandals are being erected, but they are also hurting the public property. The committees have dug up holes in the road to support the bamboo framework of the pandals.

When asked about the “casual damage” being inflicted on the already dented roads, members of some puja committees did not respond. Those who did, said they did not find anything wrong in digging up the roads for setting up pandals. Most members said they had been doing it for years and the administration never stopped them. So, they believe, there was nothing wrong in it.

When The Telegraph asked why holes are being dug up to set up the pandal, Krishna Murari Yadav, the president of Friends’ Association Club, who also happens to be the ex-mayor and councillor of ward number 27, where the pandal is being erected, said: “We have been erecting pandals at this place for the past 60 years. Every year, we dig up the same portion of the road. We have acquired the licence from the district administration to set up the pandal. We are not doing anything wrong.”

Even residents of the area seemed unfazed with the practice of the puja committees.

“Digging up roads for pandals is nothing new. I don’t think the puja committees are doing this with any ill will. Erecting pandals for Durga puja is associated with the devotion of people. Where would they go when the administration has failed to provide land to the puja committees?” asked Sunil Kumar (33), who lives near Golghar.

A similar road condition could be seen at Jagdeo Path, where 20-year-old Moon Club is constructing a pandal. Urban development minister Samrat Choudhary was the president of the puja committee from 2009 to 2011. According to the puja committee members, Choudhary remains a passive member of the society.

“When I was the president of the committee, the pandal was never erected on the road. It would be wrong to put up the pandal on road. I don’t support it because public property should not be damaged. Proper action should be taken regarding this,” said Choudhary.

Jagdeo Path resident Paras Nath said action should be taken against those who were damaging public property.

“The stretch from Khajpura to Rukunpura is damaged. The committees are digging up roads to erect pandals, which worsen the condition of the pathways further. The common man suffers because of the puja committees, who never consult the residents before taking such steps,” said Nath.

District magistrate Manish Kumar Verma said the administration had given strict instructions to the puja committees to abide by the rules and to ensure that pandals were erected off roads.

“We had conducted a meeting on September 6 regarding this. We asked all puja committees to see if pandals could be erected off roads. I have no idea whether any puja committee has violated the instruction or not,” said Verma.

He added that he would soon carry out inspections to find out which puja committees violated the norm.

“We would ask them to remove the pandals from the roads,” said Verma. He, however, could not say what would be the quantum of punishment for norm violators.