A bird’s eye view of a flooded Gandhi Maidan on Tuesday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Incessant rain on Tuesday morning flooded Gandhi Maidan, casting a shadow on the colourful Independence Day celebration plan and posing a tough challenge before the district administration to dry it up in less than 24 hours.

After the downpour, around 3ft water accumulated at the place where chief minister Nitish Kumar is supposed to hoist the Tricolour. The space earmarked for the parade and tableaux exhibition went under knee-deep water. Only the area allotted to jawans for displaying their skills looked better because of the grass bed.

Senior officers inspected the flooded field — the venue of the Independence Day celebration — in the afternoon. Four pumps were pressed into service to drain out water from Gandhi Maidan. Additional workforce was also deployed to make the ground ready for the series of events lined up for the Independence Day.

Patna divisional commissioner K.P. Ramaiah, district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh, Patna municipal corporation (PMC) commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pal, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Amrit Raj and Patna city SP Jayant Kumar discussed the steps to be taken to dry up the ground fast with a tense look. Thereafter, they gave instructions to their juniors.

Till late evening, the ground having underground drainage system was in bad shape because the water accumulated on its periphery was gushing inside. The worst-affected was the stretch through which common people would enter the ground. It was under 4ft water.

The VIP area — from where the family members of bureaucrats and senior officers would watch the programmes — was slushy till the evening. The district administration is also worried about the flooded parking area. If the situation does not improve on Wednesday morning, visitors would have to park their vehicles outside Gandhi Maidan.

District magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh told The Telegraph: “Keeping the ground dry tomorrow (Wednesday) would be a big challenge for us. We will be in trouble if it rains during the Independence Day celebration.”

He said: “We have installed two high power pump sets to drain out water from the space through which tableaux will enter the ground. Two more pump sets have been installed at the parking area.”

Sanjay said: “Our priority is to keep the parade area dry because all the important events will take place there. We have made a slope through which water is automatically draining out.”

The Independence Day parade is slated to start around 9.30am. Before that, Nitish would hoist the Tricolour at 8.52am. The district administration has asked visitors to occupy their seats by 8.30am.

Confident about drying up the ground before the parade starts on the Independence Day, Sanjay said: “The celebration will take place according to the plan. Just pray to God there is no rain on Thursday morning. Let’s hope for the best. We are doing whatever we can, the rest rests on nature.”

The Met department has predicted rainfall on the Independence Day. Sources in the district administration said special arrangements would be made for the chief minister in case it rains during the two-hour-long programme.

The Independence Day celebration would start with flag hoisting, followed by the parade and tableaux exhibition. Thereafter, different forces will display their skills through mock drill.