Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Wednesday started the damage control nearly a week after several streets of Sri Krishna Nagar, an upscale area in the city, went under water because of seepage from underground water supply and blocked drainage pipes.

A group of Grade IV civic body employees arrived with spades and other tools at road number 2 and the neighbouring areas. They dug up the roads and went under to plug the water seepage.

After completing the repair work at a leakage point, one of the workers told The Telegraph: “There are around 10 leakage points below road number 2 and the adjoining areas. We repaired three of these today. Work on the rest of them would be completed within a day or two.”

The Telegraph had reported on March 13 that the water supply pipeline at the junction of roads number 20 and 21, on road number 2 in Sri Krishna Nagar, is damaged. As a result, the leakage causes frequent waterlogging. The main sewage chamber of road number 2 is also blocked for the past six months, forcing drain water into homes.

After the repair work, the situation improved slightly on Wednesday. The level of stagnant water went down slightly and residents were hopeful that the situation would improve. They were, however, sceptical of the nature of the repair work.

On the method adopted for repairing the damaged portion of the pipeline, a PMC worker said: “We tie up the damaged portion of the pipe with jute ropes.”

Residents claimed that covering the leakage with jute ropes would not be a permanent solution.

“Jute is a degradable material. It will not last long,” said Vivek Kumar, a resident of road number 2.

PMC authorities rebutted the allegation, though.

“The use of jute ropes for repairing the water supply line is done only as the first step. Once the leakage stabilises, we seal the point with molten metal. We will follow the same procedure in the case of Sri Krishna Nagar,” said Ravindra Kumar, the chief engineer of the water supply cell of PMC.

While the civic body is busy repairing damaged water supply lines from one end of road number 2, the state rural works department is also working on an underground drainage project on the same stretch.

Boys take a dip in the pothole on Rajapul-Kurji Road in Patna on Wednesday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

The officer in-charge of the rural works depart-ment is, however, apprehensive about the progress of the drainage project if the leakage persists.

“The rural works department is the implementing agency for the construction of an underground drainage line on road number 2. The project has an approximate outlay of Rs 37 lakh. The length of the drainage line would be 411m. We will construct chambers in front of every house to which residents will connect their wastewater discharge line. Though we intend to complete the work by April 10, it might be delayed if the leakage persists,” he said.

Danger hole

Commuters on Rajapul-Kurji Road have to negotiate a large pothole near Sadaquat Ashram. Residents of the area claimed that the depression has been formed by a similar water leakage problem.

“The water supply line in front of our colony has been damaged for the past four months. A large volume of drinking water is wasted everyday. The leakage has also created a large pothole on the road. It causes frequent accidents,” said Mohammed Kasim, a resident of Kurji.

He added: “We have still not made any complaints about the leakage problem to the municipal corporation because of an ongoing water supply work in the area. Some labourers come every week and do some work after which leakage stops. But the water starts coming out again after few days.”