Residents have to negotiate potholes and wade through water on the 700m stretch of a street in the constituency of road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav, for which re-laying work order was issued five months ago.

The stretch of Sudarshan Path — the approach road to Patna Sahib station from the eastern side — has become a nightmare for commuters because of waterlogging and cracks. Vehicles often get stuck while negotiating craters filled with water leaking from underground pipelines of the railways, allegedly damaged during the casting work of the road.

The road construction department issued the work order for construction of the pavement quality concrete (PQC)-made road on the stretch to a contractor on December 14, 2012. The deadline to complete the work was April 2013.

A month beyond the deadline, hardly any progress in the construction work can be seen. The work is still in the preliminary stage, raising questions on the credibility of Yadav, an MLA from Patna Sahib constituency.

“At least two to three accidents take place here every week because of potholes and waterlogging. I don’t think the road construction minister is at all paying heed to the progress of work on the stretch or the inconvenience to the people,” said Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Bengali Colony.

Yadav admitted that he was unaware of the exact status of the construction work on the stretch but promised to ensure the work was over by August.

“The land of this road earlier belonged to the railways. We acquired it for the construction of the road. I would look into the matter and ensure that the new road is ready latest by August,” said Yadav.

Upendra Narayan Das, the director of the firm awarded the construction work, attributed the delay to the leakage in the underground pipeline and overflowing of a water tank of the railways. “I have informed the senior officials of the road construction department about this issue. I took several voluntary steps to address the situation but there was hardly any positive response from the railways. I would have made the required progress if there was no waterlogging.”

The officials of the railways passed the buck on the construction firm, claiming that the ongoing road construction work damaged the pipeline. “Our pipeline is 2.5ft under the road. It gets repeatedly exposed to heavy vehicles frequently because of the construction work and suffers damage. We do have new pipes but we are not replacing the older ones because we know even that would be damaged because of the ongoing work,” said an Indian Railways official posted at Patna City.

Till the railways, the construction firm and the road construction department find a solution to the waterlogging problem and the road is repaired, the 700m stretch of Sudarshan Path would remain a nightmare for commuters.

“Forget riding a motorcycle, I avoid even walking through the stretch. Cars have to take a detour of around 5km,” said Guddoo Kumar, a resident of Patna City.

The stagnant water is a cause for concern of people residing in houses dotting the road. They have to bear with the nauseating stench day in and day out.