Patna: Urban development and housing minister Suresh Kumar Sharma on Friday gave directions to suspend executive officer of Patna Municipal Corporation's Kankerbagh circle, Vijay Kumar Upadhyay, after residents complained that his inaction was to blame for waterlogging woes in their area.

Sharma instructed additional municipal commissioner Uday Krishna to take immediate steps to suspend Upadhyay. Sharma had a word of caution for executive officers of the remaining PMC circles: "If any complaint is received in the next month regarding waterlogging problems prior to onset of monsoon, action will be taken against guilty officials," he said. Sharma inspected areas prone to waterlogging to review preparedness work.

Mayor Sita Sahu, deputy mayor Vinay Kumar Pappu, BJP MLA Arun Kumar Sinha, MLC Ranbir Nandan and officials of the urban development and housing department, Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (BUIDCo), were present on the occasion.

While reviewing the sewerage treatment plant and sewerage network in Saidpur, Sharma instructed officials to get construction material tested in the building construction department laboratory before starting work. He also issued instructions to get work done in night shifts so that work can be completed before the monsoon sets in. "The foundation work of the sewerage treatment plant and sewerage network ought to be completed before monsoon," he said.

Sharma also received a complaint about joining the Saidpur-based sewerage treatment plant to the Bihar Rajya Jal Parshad's sump house on this occasion. He instructed officials not to join the two or it would increase the load on the sump house. The minister was also talked about the short size of the pipe being used in drainage network-related work. But department principal secretary Chaitanya Prasad informed him that the pipe's design had been approved by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Roorkee.

Sharma instructed officials to get the Karmalichak-related sewerage treatment plant done in two shifts so that the work can be completed fast. He also directed officials to ensure quality and work being completed on timeframe.

Earlier, while visiting Mauryalok Complex, Sharma was fuming on seeing dangling wires on the campus. He asked officials to immediately fix the problem to avert any accident in future. He fixed a month's deadline for the job. He also issued instruction to suspend city manager of Kankerbagh circle, Arvind Kumar, on the occasion.

Streetlight

PMC installed streetlights at Bailey Road near Income Tax roundabout. Mayor Sita Sahu said streetlights would be installed on the entire Bailey Road stretch in the coming days.