Rs 3500 crore plan for PATNA

PATNA: If the city development plan prepared by various government agencies is implemented fully, Patna will join the league of well-planned cities. A development plan worth Rs 3,500 crore has been drawn up to revamp the drainage, sewerage, drinking water, power and roads sector in the state capital. Of this, the Patna Municipal Corporation and Bihar Rajya Jal Parshad have already prepared a detailed project report worth Rs 1,600 crore. PMC commissioner Atul Prasad said the project duration is for seven years. A year has already passed. By the time the required clearances are obtained, this year will end. "So effectively we will be left with five years to implement the project," he said. Prasad said about 50 per cent of the funds will be provided by the Union government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Modernisation Mission. The remaining 50 per cent will be given by the state government. He said it is high time the old and crumbling sewerage system was upgraded. "Our capacity to treat sewage is not enough. Against a generation of 170 million litres a day (MLD) of sewage, the city's sewage treatment plants have a combined capacity to treat 107 MLD only." All drinking water pumping stations do not work as the water pipes do not have the strength to withstand the pressure generated by these pumps. "We have 96 pumping stations. But at a given time only 82 are operated. If we switch on all of them, the water pipes may burst," he said. So first on the priority list is the revamping of drainage and water systems. A new network of storm water drains is to be laid keeping in mind the increase in population over the next 15 years. Drinking water pipes will also be re-laid. Besides, the city development plan envisages uninterrupted power supply to the water pumping stations so that these are not dependent on the local power networks. Prasad said there is a plan to provide a dedicated and uninterrupted power supply to the pumping stations. Underground cables will be laid so that there is no pilferage from these lines. There is also a provision for constructing roads and relaying them so that they are able to face the vagaries of nature. Prasad said, "All departments need to work in complete co-ordination so that there isn't a situation in which a freshly-laid road is cut open for laying water pipes or even power lines."