Several Muzaffarpur localities remain waterlogged for over a month

PATNA: Congress MLA from Muzaffarpur town Bijendra Chaudhary and former urban development and housing minister Suresh Kumar Sharma were locked in a verbal duel over the perennial problem of waterlogging in the city.
The Congress legislator assured the residents on Saturday that the waterlogging issue will be resolved within six months as construction of drains and roads were in progress.“Funds have been released for the purpose,” he told reporters.
Chaudhary further said, “We hope to complete the ongoing work in the next six months and the city will get rid of the waterlogging problem forever. Rainwater will not accumulate from next monsoon.”
However, taking a swipe at the MLA, Sharma said he would reward him (read Chaudhary) if the waterlogging problem was resolved within the stipulated period. He blamed the municipal corporation, other officials and some residents for the sorry state of affairs.
Sharma said a detailed project at an estimated cost of Rs183 crore was prepared during his tenure as urban development and housing minister to drain out rainwater from the city. However, it could not be completed due to the officials’ apathy, he claimed.
Several localities of the district headquarters town were still under knee-deep water. The residents apprehend an outbreak of epidemic as rainwater has remained accumulated for over a month.
On Saturday, a group of residents put up a road blockade and disrupted vehicular traffic near Kalibari Road and Chaturbhujsthan Road to protest against waterlogging in the nearby colonies.
One Rahul Kumar said, “An epidemic outbreak cannot be ruled out. It has been more than a month since rainwater entered the houses after the drains got choked. People are now falling victim to water-borne diseases.”
A doctor posted at the Sadar hospital admitted that complaints of skin diseases have increased in the town. He advised the municipal corporation authorities to immediately start fogging in the waterlogged localities.
Municipal commissioner Vivek Ranjan Maitrey said efforts were on to drain out water from the affected colonies. “Excess rain and ongoing work disrupted the work in some localities,” he said.
Former mayor Vivek Kumar alleged that the waterlogging issue is raised every year during monsoon. “But the issue is thrown into dustbin once the monsoon season ends,” he said.