Patna Municipal Corporation says 10 key drains cleaned twice

PATNA: With little over a month to go before the monsoon hits the city, the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has completed around 85% of its drain-cleaning work.
The urban development and housing department (UDHD) has given May 15 deadline to the civic body to complete desilting and cleaning of all drains. All the ongoing construction work will be halted for at least 15 days before the arrival of monsoon. All the roads cut for the development work will also be repaired. The civic body officials have been asked to ensure that all open manholes are covered.
Sheela Irani, additional municipal commissioner and sanitation incharge, said all 10 major drains have been cleaned twice while one-round of desilting of other drains, including manholes, catch pits and small drains, have been completed.
“The cleaning work will continue till monsoon as these drainage networks carry the daily discharge from households, which often clog the drains. Clogged drains often cause waterlogging during monsoon. The work to clean small drains will continue even after the expiry of the deadline on May 15,” she added.
Irani said of 17,13,566km-long open/service drain, around 11,91,914km have been cleaned with the help of machinery and sanitary workers, which is almost 70% till May 6. Of total 45,491 manholes located in the municipal area, 32,651 have been cleaned and 27,103 catch pits’ silt have been removed out of 37,021 located in the city,” she added.
A UDHD official said drainage network cleaning work has been in progress in 12 wards, including Kadamkuan, Bhawar Pokhar, Lohanipur, Sabzibagh, PMCH, Patna University, Ramna Road, Bikhna Pahadi, Saidpur, Golakpur, Rajendra Nagar (Road 1) to Moin-ul-Haque Stadium, Dargah Road, Machuatoli, Congress Maidan and Sultanganj.
The BUIDCO officials have been asked to keep all the sump houses operational and maintain those which are lying defunct. Electricians will be deployed in all sump houses from May 15. A PESU official said the power supply would not become a hindrance during monsoon. “Engineers will be given the responsibility to ensure that the feeders linking the sump houses are in better shape. A dedicated feeder has also been made for all the sump houses,” the official added.
BUIDCO has sump houses at 43 places in the city. Many sump houses, including the ones at Pahari, Yogipur and Saidpur, are connected to more than one feeder.