Boat Plying on Patna Streets; CM Summons Officials

Patna: July 17, 2008

Despite a brief lull from the 5 days of relentless rain in the state capital, condition in Patna on Thursday remained grim with no sign of decline in the water level on Patna streets even as the administration, amidst much criticism, ordered deployment of boats to ferry stranded commuters.

With animal carcass floating in many places, the administration is now turning its attention on the health and hygiene aspects of the flooding in Patna as several people reported of diarrhea like symptoms possibly caused by drinking contaminated water while many others complained of snakes and scorpions inside their homes.

Even at the Magadh Hospital in Rajendra Nagar where rain water had entered into many of its rooms, patients were seen being transported to other hospitals by their kin and well-wishers.

Angry residents in Kankarbagh, meanwhile, blocked the National Highway 30 near Transport Nagar and burnt the effigy of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi for not visiting the area to survey the flood situation.

On Ashok Rajpath and other areas where people were fortunate enough to be not hit by water-logging menace, they had another problem in their hand to deal with in the form of accumulating garbage that the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) had conveniently ignored to remove in the name of fighting flood.

Apparently concerned by the bleak state of affairs in Patna and the sudden surge in criticism against his governing ability, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, upon his return from New Delhi on Thursday evening, reviewed the water-logging situation in the state capital and called a high-level meeting with the state's top officials on Friday.

The Urban Development Minister Bhola Singh, on the other hand, washed off his hands from any responsibility from the hellish conditions in Kankarbagh while putting the entire blame on the National Building and Construction Corporation (NBCC) saying if it did not fix the broken drainage in the area, the government would be forced to take legal actions against it.