|
There
are several hundred thousands of Biharis and
non-Biharis whose connections to the great city
of Patna are many – geographical, cultural,
historical and, indeed, umbilical. There would
be no exaggeration to say that this city made
them what they are: bureaucrats, teachers,
professionals, scientists, doctors, lawyers,
artists or film-makers. Unfortunately, journey
of Patna since 5th century BC from Pataliputra
has constantly been groping into deep despair.
People have stopped complaining about
electricity, water, telephones, road, transport,
garbage etc. as if they were born to live with
the knee-filled water on the street in a rainy
day or take a ride on the choked-smoked road
everyday. Sometimes, when it becomes unbearable,
frustration bursts into anger whenever a
transformer explodes in hot summer time - a
weekly event. The threshold for tolerance has
reached the abyss.
Collapse of Vaishnavi Apartments like a pack of
card in S. K. Puri locality, falling of two
young girls into a water-topped manhole in
Rajendra Nagar area and water-logging in almost
entire Patna upon receiving just 220 mm of rain
tell a tale of complete crumbling of
infrastructure.
For all this we are to blame. As a result of
massive migration from rural areas to Patna, a
totally unplanned city grew due to our
incompetence and corruption or a mixture of both
and thereby disrupting relationship between
human and environment. The overlooked civic
amenities in conjunction with high aspiration of
consumerism has allowed mushrooming of the
business centers without proper facilities and
thus made roads into clogging narrow lanes.
In modern world, cities are the virtual face of
development and are the mirror of hopes.
According to Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar,
we are sitting on a ticking time bomb of
earthquake of a magnitude of just 6.0 on Richter
scale. It is widely believed that 1/3rd
population will be wiped out instantly.
In the event of death of 20 innocent people in
Vaishnavi Apartments, it is the demand of time
for Nitish Kumar to change the face of Patna at
least in a Hyderabad way where Shri Chandrababu
Naidu made a spectacular attempt without fear of
losing power in the era of vote bank politics.
It is known to everyone that how this city is
reaping harvest of being a mega city today.
Let’s pray for those innocent who rest in peace
for our self-awakening.
|
Comments: |
Fall of building in rainy season.
New news for Patna. But the choked
drainages, submerged colonies,
stinking roads, rising diseases,
these are the common features of
Patna in monsoon. Before blaming
municipal corporation and the
government, I would like to dwell on
the geographic conditions and the
root causes of the water logging. If
we spare some time to go in the
history, approximately 25 years
back, (I have heard about these
facts, not seen), the current
submerged areas were then called
JALLA. All the waste water and the
rain used to get stored there. The
actual shape of Patna is a cup-like
where one side, that is Patna City,
is like a wall and the middle Patna
is the bottom of the cup. Therefore
all the water coming from all the
areas is bound to get collected
there. No matter what one does, if
the water level on both sides is
comparatively higher, there is no
place for water to go and that
creates all the trouble. One may
ask, that why doesn't the same
happen in summer season. Well, in
summers, the water level in
surrounding lower areas is that much
low that excessive water flows there
due to little slope and the effect
is not visible.
The things are worsened due to use
of plastic bags. People of Patna are
somewhat less conscious about the
severity of damage made by PVC
material which they keep throwing in
open NAALAs. Everyday, tonnes and
tonnes of PVC material is thrown in
the naalas which ultimately goes in
big drains and chokes these to
create such a miserable situation.
Proper cleaning of drainage, pumping
water out to lower lands and civic
education about havoc of plastic may
go long way in solving this
perennial issue. - Ravish Kumar,
Hyderabad - June 12, 2006 |
|
Discussion on this topic is now
closed. |
Return to previous Page |
