Pollution and lack of cleanliness have reached such alarming proportions in Patna that even 1 Aney Marg, the official residence of the chief minister, has not been spared.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar often has to pick up plastic bottles strewn about at his residence.

Nitish pointed this out while advising that there was an urgent need to change the attitude of people, as well as improve one's own, instead of just indulging in academic discussions on cleanliness and pollution.

'Often when I take a walk inside the CM house, I see labourers have littered it (the premises) with empty plastic water bottles. I pick them up so that it leaves some impact on them. The motive is to bring a change in the mental attitude of people. Only academic discussions won't have much impact,' Nitish said.

He said no garbage is found in the entire state during Chhath but after two days of worshipping the Sun God people again start littering.

The chief minister was speaking after inaugurating the two-day 19th annual conference-cum-national seminar of The Association of Geographers, Bihar and Jharkhand (AGBJ), at Samrat Ashok Convention Centre in Patna on Sunday.

Chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, Patna University vice-chancellor (VC) Rash Bihari Singh, Aligarh University head of geography department Abha Lakshmi Singh, Magadh University pro-VC K.N. Paswan, AGBJ president Tuntun Jha and convenor of the event Poornima Shekhar Singh were present on the occasion.

The theme of the seminar was 'urban dynamics and smart city prospect in Bihar and Jharkhand', but the chief minister suggested the geographers and experts present that they should not limit their discussions to the topic, but also discuss about the Earth so that mankind remains safe.

Nitish said some planned cities such as Jamshedpur and Bokaro Steel City have come up, but the overall scenario is bleak.

'Mumbai is considered the financial capital of the country, but see its condition today. I went to Beijing in China, but yearned to hear the chirping of birds. The importance of environment is more for cities, but the misuse of latest techniques is destroying it. We must discuss ways on how to protect our Earth from destruction,' he said.

Nitish added that he still considers Patna as a large village as people can still listen to the chirping of birds in the morning. However, he also touched upon the subject of unorganised urban development from Patna to Bihta after the state government started considering developing Bihta as an information technology hub.