The sight of residents wading through ankle-deep water is a constant affair for Patna, no longer just in monsoon.
Residents of central Patna areas such as Fraser Road and Station roundabout are facing the usual rainy nuisance in the winter months. Sewage water leaking from damaged pipelines is causing inconvenience to commuters for the past couple of days but Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo) authorities are hardly to be bothered.
The officials only attributed the waterlogged streets to an ongoing sewerage construction project that envisages digging a drain to link the pumping station on SP Verma Road with the Mandiri drain. Set for a March-end deadline, the project, however, is staring at a delay because of "civic utilities coming in the way" and other problems.
The result is commuters have to navigate ankle-deep water at Station roundabout and the southern flank of Fraser Road in winter months January and February. The situation is so bad that even pedestrians find it difficult to walk through the watery stretches.
"Water is accumulated along south Fraser Road where most office-goers and I park our two-wheelers. The water is coming from the damaged manholes and it is nauseating to even walk. It stinks and this has been the situation since the last week of January," said Alok Kumar, a private firm employee with his office on Fraser Road.
Similar troubles are faced by the residents on Station roundabout. Piyush Pandey, an employee of a private firm in Calcutta, said: "I fell in a waterlogged ditch at the Station roundabout on Sunday night when I was going to board a train for Calcutta with my wife."
"Not only was I drenched in dirty water, I even suffered several bruises on my leg," added Pandey, who hails from Patna.
PMC commissioner Jai Singh said the roads were waterlogged because of the delay in completion of the sewerage project, connecting the sump house on SP Verma Road with the Mandiri drain. "As the project is still not complete, there is no outlet for the sewage water generating in the area. If we start the sump house on SP Verma Road, Station roundabout is inundated, and if we do not, then the roundabout near Maurya Lok and Fraser Road goes under water. I would find out from BUIDCo what's holding up the completion of the sewerage project," he added.
BUIDCo had started work on the Rs 9.96-crore project to solve central Patna's waterlogging problem in March last year but unfortunately it has led to a problem the corporation sought to resolve in the first place. Once the project is complete, it is expected to solve waterlogging problems in areas such as Patna Junction, Dakbungalow roundabout, SP Verma Road and Fraser Road.
The municipal commissioner appeared apprehensive about the consequences in case of a delay. He said: "Excess rainwater from most central Patna areas is discharged into the pumping station on SP Verma Road. If the ongoing sewerage project is not completed on time, there could be severe waterlogging in this part of the city during the monsoon."
A senior BUIDCo official looking after the project said: "Though we have given the contractor a March-end deadline, we fear it may be delayed by another month. However, it would definitely be complete before monsoon."
He added: "The civic work involved in this project was difficult. The work got stuck on various occasions because of civic utilities coming in the way, including electrical, telephone and Internet lines. But these issues have been resolved now. The pipelines to be laid in this project come from others states, which also takes time."