The Mandiri and Saidpur drains will be covered in concrete and roads laid over them after the Patna divisional commissioner directed officials on Friday to submit draft detailed project reports (DPR).

"I have directed Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo) officials to submit a draft of the DPR on the construction of road over Mandiri drain by June 5," said divisional commissioner Anand Kishor after a review meeting on the proposals. "BUIDCo has been directed to submit the final DPR by June 15. The DPR to be prepared must be in sync with the Patna master plan project. Laying road over the Mandiri drain was a long pending demand of the residents and the move will help ease traffic congestion on the other roads."

The Mandiri drain originates from near the Income Tax roundabout and ends near Kali Mandir at Bans Ghat 2.5km away. The Saidpur drain runs about 6km parallel to Ashok Rajpath and will be built by Bihar State Road Development Corporation Limited.

As big drains take up a lot of space beside the roads, the plan is to build roads over them so that crunch on the existing roads can be tackled, said Kishor.

Residents in the Mandiri area welcomed the decision. "We have been petitioning the government for a long time to cover this drain. Once the drains are covered, no one would be able to dump garbage there and choke it," said Santosh, a resident. "Laying a road over the drain would also ensure smooth traffic."

The concept of roads over drains was first implemented in the city with the development of the Boring Canal Road. After that, Ashiana-Digha road was also expanded into a four-lane road by covering the drain next to it last year.

The city currently has a network of 535 drains, including nine big, 14 medium and 172 small ones. All of them flow directly into the Ganga or other water bodies.

Plans were also afoot to build road over the Serpentine drain. But Kishor said that the roads running parallel to the drain were already wide and experienced less traffic. He still directed the officials to prepare the detailed project report for the Serpentine drain, keeping in view the future need to widen the road, and submit it by July 5.