CM Holds Meeting to Rid Patna from Water-logging

Patna: July 18, 2008

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, during a high-level meeting with his top bureaucrats and ministers at his residence on Friday, directed the officials to use high-powered irrigational tools to pump out water from the streets of Patna that, following five days of heavy rain, has turned the entire city into a gigantic, floating landfill.

Kumar said that the administration should borrow pumps from the neighboring states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and West Bengal if needed but no stone should be left unturned to provide relief to the residents of Patna.

The Chief Minister also ordered spraying of bleaching powder in all affected areas and deploy more boats in Kankarbagh and Rajendra Nagar – two of the localities most affected by this week's downpour.

With a blueprint of the state capital spread before him, Kumar grilled the Water Board and Urban Development departments' officials who appeared to be struggling to find the right words to justify their failure in preventing this disaster.

Demanding explanations for water-logging in many areas, the Chief Minister, while failing to take stern actions against the inept officials, ordered the Irrigation Department to roll up its sleeves and rid Patna from accumulated rain water within next couple of days.