Patna's new municipal commissioner Abhishek Singh will face his biggest challenge in waterlogging as soon as he takes charge.

The government transferred five IAS officers, including the commissioner of Patna Municipal Corporation, on Tuesday. Abhishek, a 2006-batch Tripura cadre IAS officer, has landed right in the fire as Tuesday's rain exposed the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC)'s ill-preparedness to deal with waterlogging troubles in the city's low-lying areas.

Singh did not take charge on Wednesday.

Once he does, he will find his masters degree in public administration and karate black belt handy in swimming through the many problems plaguing the city and the civic body.

Singh's role would be doubly difficult as he is new to the PMC's work culture which mostly suffers from finances and manpower crises.

PMC's share of troubles was noticeable since Tuesday night as several streets in Gardanibagh, Airport Road and a few internal streets in Rajendra Nagar and Kankerbagh went under knee-deep water after the downpour. This has happened in spite of the PMC's claim that 90 per cent of monsoon preparedness was complete by May end.

The other problem for the civic body is the frequent changes at the top, which civic experts say has adversely affected the standard of work.

"It is ironical that as soon as a PMC officer gets accustomed to the work culture, he is transferred," said R.S. Choudhary, a retired chief town planner in the urban development and housing department. "It takes at least two to three months for a new officer to adjust and understand the work culture at any office, leave aside municipal corporations. The latest transfer is even worse as it has happened when monsoon has arrived."

Urban development and housing minister Maheshwar Hazari however claimed that the transfer was done upon Shirshat's request. "Shirshat was handling two charges - municipal commissioner of PMC and managing director of water board," Hazari told The Telegraph. "He recently requested the department to relieve him from one of the charges as he was finding it difficult to sustain both of his responsibilities."

Shirshat and Singh were unavailable for comments. Singh is not likely to have any respite though.

Ashish Sen, the director at the Patna meteorological Centre, claimed that monsoon will remain active in Bihar over the next two-three days.

"Patna will receive moderate rainfall," he said.