Rain brings cheers and tears to people of Gaya

GAYA: Incessant rain since Thursday evening has brought cheers as well as tears to nearly half-a-million Gayaites. Whereas the much-needed and somewhat premature rain has provided relief from oppressive heat, near collapse of the power distribution system and the failure of the power holding company officials to restore power supply till Friday evening has made life miserable.
If that was not enough, water supply system, too, came to a near halt due to the non-availability of power. Choked drains and storage of drain effluents on the road flanks particularly Swarajpuri Road connecting Gaya railway station with the rest of the town and Bodh Gaya added to the plight of all road users particularly pedestrians and bikers.
According to C L Prakash, general manager of the South Bihar Power Holding Company, almost all the feeders supplying power to more than 50,000 domestic and commercial power users have registered breakdown. Full-fledged work to remove the snag and restore power supply is going on, said the GM. He hoped that restoration work will be completed by late evening. Continuous rain was affecting the ongoing operation to restore power supply in the town, said the GM.
Gaya deputy mayor Mohan Srivastava attributed waterlogging and allied problems to the premature nature of the rain. The municipal body has fixed June 15 as the deadline for the annual pre-monsoon cleaning of the drains and in many areas work was going on. Premature rain has put paid to the municipal corporation's efforts, said Srivastava who appeared to be more interested in the progress of a criminal case lodged against Mayor Vibha Devi in connection with a land-related dispute. The mayor's bail petition has been rejected and arrest warrant has been issued against her, an apparently happy deputy mayor said.
The ongoing war between the mayor, Vibha Devi, and her deputy, Mohan Srivastava, has already taken toll of the already fragile municipal system and the two appear to be interested more in scoring brownie points over each other than addressing the real issues of the civic body. The two have been engaged on issues like seating order in the municipal body meet. The mayor even joined the BJP in the hope of soliciting urban development minister Prem Kumar's support in her fight against her resourceful and politically skilled deputy. But the minister, too, appears to have cold-shouldered the move.