Thank God the prominent members of India Inc could not see the other side of Patna, when roads submerged their identity into drains.

Fortunately, it was a weekly holiday; thus school children and office-goers escaped the trouble of reaching their destination.

However, the overnight rain (Sun-Mon) was so heavy that Patniates could hardly venture to come out on Monday, though the first half was somewhat sunny. Several schools, coaching institutes and other educational institutions were declared close on account of ‘rainy day’. In fact it should have been called ‘waterlogged day’ as there was no rain on Monday morning and afternoon.

Not only the lanes and bylanes, even the main thoroughfares of the city was knee-deep in troubled water. At some places the water level was even higher.

The posh Rajendra Nagar, Kankarbagh, Pataliputra Colony, the vicinity of Bailey Road or the downtown area of Ashok Rajpath, Abdul Bari Path or the roads linking the two, all remained waterlogged throughout the day on Monday.

Even the VIP areas did not remain untouched. There was more or less similar scene in most part of the New Capital area too.

Said RJD MP, Ram Kripal Yadav, whose Goriatoli house near Patna railway station too is in knee-deep water: “See what Nitish Kumar had made of Patna, which he promised to convert into Paris. At least it has become a narak (hell).”

The tragedy with Patna is that the level of several important roads of the state capital has been raised by about 20 inches wreaking havoc in the city. No effort has been made to improve the drainage system. Some work was done in Kankarbagh locality a couple of years back. It saw relatively less waterlogging this time.

Though the first half of Monday was sunny the Met department forecast moderate to heavy rain all over the state in the next four or five days.

Apart from Patna, Munger, Bhojpur and East Champaran also witnessed heavy rainfall. Life was badly disrupted in those places too.

According to Met director A K Sen because of this late rainfall the rain deficiency in the state has now come down to 23 per cent and if this spell continues, it will come down further.

The southwest monsoon, which normally ends by September 30, is likely to continue at least till the first week of October.

While Munger received 206.4 mm rain during 24 hours Patna recorded 89.9 mm. Purnia, Bhagalpur, Gaya and East Champaran received 19.6mm, 8.9mm, 16mm and 150 mm respectively.

The waterlogging caused heavy traffic jams in Patna and Ara. The situation was really bad in and around Patna Junction, Kankerbagh, Mithapur, Kurji More, Chandmari Road,Industrial Area, etc.
“The problem with Patna is that there hardly exists any drainage system in the city and garbage is not lifted for days, or sometimes even weeks. Yet we recently held a big meeting for urban planning for the entire state,” said a prominent citizen of Pataliputra Colony, while talking to BiharTimes.

But then rain brought smiles in the face of farmers all over the state as it will help the standing paddy crop and the prospect of other kharif crops has also got brightened.