Residents struggle as parts of city remain inundated

Patna: As downpour continued in Patna, several parts of the city remained inundated on Tuesday. Workers of the civic body were still pumping out the sewage-mixed rainwater from multiple affected areas, as residents waded through ankle to knee-deep water in areas like Patliputra Colony, Patel Nagar, Lohanipur, Kadamkuan, Rajbanshi Nagar, Digha, Danapur, Kankerbagh, Patna City and Phulwarisharif. Anuradha Jha, a resident of Gardanibagh, said the waterlogging situation in Gardanibagh Road number 1 remained the same since Monday.Aman Rajpur Singh said water entered houses in Bazaar Samiti area. "People have been living in waterlogged houses for the last 24 hours. There is no help till now," he said.Roshan Goswami, a resident of Danapur, said that the local residents have been facing waterlogging since Sunday night. "There are snakes in water. We are left with no groceries or vegetables. Dirty drain water have inundated our lane. I invested Rs 70,000 to make a small pathway, but the water crosses the line every year," he complained. Meanwhile, urban development and housing minister Jibesh Kumar, along with road construction minister Nitin Nabin, inspected different waterlogged areas. Patna municipal commissioner Animesh Parashar and mayor Sita Sahu also separately reviewed the situation.The urban development minister also held a review meeting regarding the drainage system in Patna with all MLAs from the region, MLCs, and senior officials from the department. Jibesh instructed the officials to ensure that water be pumped out from the affected areas by night. He directed the officials to use suction machines in low-lying areas to remove water and suggested bringing in more machines and pumps from nearby municipal bodies if needed. He also emphasised employing experts and engineers from other departments to ensure water is drained from all areas of the capital.The department's secretary, Abhay Kumar Singh, said that since Monday evening, 348 complaints were received on the helpline number concerned, all of which were resolved. "Patna recorded a total of 175.4 millimetres of rain in 12 hours from Sunday night to Monday morning. Water was drained from about 90% areas, but subsequent rainfall on Monday night and Tuesday morning led to waterlogging again," he said.Parashar said 19 QRT teams (at headquarters and zonal levels), along with the officials of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Buidco, were deployed across the city day and night. "The staff is monitoring the water level of sump houses in real time using walkie-talkies and with the help of CCTV cameras. Additional pumping machines have been deployed in all zones. The staff has been assigned duties in three shifts at sump houses, and the drainage system is being kept active," he said.There are 56 permanent sump houses in Patna and 36 temporary drainage pumping stations (DPS). A total of 364 pumps — 265 electric and 99 diesel sets — are being used this time. Of these, 256 pumps are installed at permanent DPS, and 83 at the temporary DPS.Meanwhile, a resident, Niranjan Paswan, asked why the PMC and Buidco did not use the same system to know in advance, how many drains are choked, how many drainage workers are deployed, and how many water entry-exit points are blocked by garbage. If the check is done regularly, it can drastically reduce waterlogging, he suggested.