Waterlogging a poll issue at Begusarai

begusarai: the demand to remove waterlogging from their areas is the only demand faced by the candidates contesting municipal election from ward nos 5, 8, 12 and 4 of this town. according to the voters of the waterlogged wards, the district administration, while beautifying the town, demolished the old drainages, resulting in flooding of their wards with the obstructed drain water.new drainages are yet to be completed. "what assurance can i give to voters when despite my repeated attempts for the last four months, the district administration did not bother to drain out water from the area," said dilip kumar paswan, a candidate contesting from ward no 5 where knee-deep water is still flowing over the road. "i feel demoralised before the voters, who mostly belong to the lower class, when they complain of drainage water entering their houses," said another contestant suresh choudhary from the same ward. he further said that he has planned to gherao the collectorate for a solution to the problem. similar is the comment of mohammad mukhtar and rabindra kumar, contesting from ward no 12 which virtually has a rainy season-like lane with water encircling several houses. "why should we vote when the waterlogging forced us to close our businesses for the last four months," commented a stationery shopkeeper in the collegiate school road, bishnu deo mahto. "filthy drainage water spreads a foul smell all the time. why will a customer come to my saloon for haircut," is the comment of a barber in ward no 5. he further said, "jab narak mein hi rahna hai to kisi ko vote nahin denge.� "i suffered a huge loss on account of waterlogging in jagir mohalla for the last four months. as no customer used to come to my stall, i closed down my business," said a tea shall owner moti mandal. further, he said, "i have nothing to do with the municipal election." "instead of improving the condition, the municipality paved the way for waterlogging on the roads of this mohalla," commented sailesh kumar sinha of ward no 4. "as there is no influential person here, the administration does not take care of this mohalla," he said. meanwhile, the election campaign is at its peak in all the 26 wards, including the 11 reserved ones, where 246 contestants, including 80 women, are in the fray. the district administration has set up 61 booths where 52,321 voters, including 22,604 women, will exercise their franchise on april 28.