High court sets Sept 27 deadline to clean Patna

The Patna high court on Friday set September 27 deadline for the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) to rid the state capital of waterlogging, filth and garbage.

The Patna high court on Friday set September 27 deadline for the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) to rid the state capital of waterlogging, filth and garbage.

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While giving an 'ultimatum' to the PMC, a division bench of justice T Meena Kumari and justice Chakradhari Saran Singh said "no laxity on the part of (Patna Municipal) Corporation and its officials would be tolerated in the cleanness drive".

Taking cognizance of lawyers' complaints that corporation employees and inspectors were not paying any heed to people's grievances on waterlogging, garbage and filth, the judges asked the municipal commissioner to submit an exhaustive report on the issue, detailing action taken against 'erring' staff, by the next date.

Dereliction of duty by corporation officials in the cleanness drive should be dealt with iron hands, the judges said while hearing the petition filed by Sunil Kumar and others on lack of civic amenities in the state capital. In order to ensure round-the-clock service to people facing waterlogging and other civic problems, the judges said the cellphones of all officials concerned should remain switched on 24X7.

The court also asked the municipal commissioner to submit a detailed compliance report on September 27, in addition to the daily action taken report (ATR) on the cleanness drive to the monitoring bench.

The municipal commissioner, chief executive officers (CEO) of all the four zones of Patna and other PMC officials were present in the court when the bench passed the orders.

The officials claimed that the Nehru Nagar drain would be cleaned by Saturday to solve the waterlogging problem in Patliputra Colony.