It's Pure, Unadulterated Hell in Patna
Patna: July 25, 2007
 Hell! That's the only way to describe the plight of Patna during this brutal monsoon season that has not only made the lives of Patna'ites extremely difficult but has also exposed the effectiveness, or the lack thereof, of the so-called civic body known as Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC).
There is hardly any area in the city where roads are not littered with deadly potholes filled with rain water as rickshaws, autos, cars and other vehicles try to avoid deep holes causing tremendous traffic jam that must be experienced to be believed.
Trash at every nook and corner further belie the claims of Urban Development Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey and other senior PMC officials who say things are much better in the Nitish government.
 Given such conditions, it is then no surprise that on Wednesday hundreds of angry residents, fueled by leaders in the opposition parties, staged protest throughout the city demanding resignation of Choubey and firing of all PMC employees.
In Kankarbagh, CPI-ML activists protested outside the Kankarbagh Municipal Corporation office demanding relief from water-logging. Also in Kankarbagh, Congress leaders burnt the effigies of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi demanding their resignation for failing to provide relief from garbage accumulation and water-logging.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Khursheed Alam Siddiqui, after surveying many areas on Wednesday, said if the water-logging problem was not resolved immediately, the party would be forced to launch an agitation demanding resignation of Choubey, Nitish Kumar, and Modi.
Politics aside, the ground reality in Patna is anything but positive. Water-logging, coupled with garbage accumulation and extremely poor condition of the ground surface otherwise known to Biharis as roads are constant reminders of the fact that though the RJD government is no more in power and a new government in place, things have not improved one iota despite claims of progress by the current horde of politicians and administrators.
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