Residents of Vidyapatinagar on Kanke Road under Ward 2 of Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) can now hope for a quick solution to the problem they have been battling for the past two years in the absence of a proper drainage system that leads to sewage inundating roads.

Chief minister Hemant Soren has directed RMC commissioner Manoj Kumar to resolve the issue immediately after several residents took to Twitter and tagged the CM in posts that showed the pitiful condition that they were forced to live in.

Hemant has also asked the RMC commissioner to submit a report on other localities under his jurisdiction that were facing similar issues.

As many as 10,000 residents are forced to wade through dirty water that spills over to the roads in the colony. Children, who often fall and get injured, are the worst sufferers.

Soon after the chief minister’s intervention, RMC floated two short-term tenders two days ago for the construction of a culvert and a network of drains at an estimated cost of Rs 6.82 lakh.

“We are very happy about the CM’s intervention. This was a petty issue that the RMC could have solved on its own. When Raghubar Das was the chief minister, we had taken up the issue around 50 times. The state urban development minister C.P. Singh, municipal commissioner, mayor Asha Lakra, deputy mayor Sanjeev Vijayvargiya and all other officials were aware of the problem, but they ignored it. We were told that the tender was floated but had to be cancelled after a single bidder turned up,” local resident Binod Kumar said.

Amit Kumar, another resident of the locality, said the colony was one of the well-managed localities in the capital city, but the RMC messed it up.

“The way CM took note of the matter reflects that he is a proactive person. But it also raises a question mark over RMC’s efficiency. The officials woke up to the problem only when the CM intervened. It shows the civic bodies are least concerned about the common people,” Kumar added.

Another resident, Arun Kumar Mishra, said in the absence of a proper drainage, the groundwater of the locality had become polluted.

“The stagnant water on the road has become the breeding ground for mosquitoes,” he added.

Kanke MLA Samri Lal had also raised this issue at the RMC board meeting and requested the authorities to construct about 50-feet long drain to solve the problem permanently.

Local residents had set up blockades at least thrice to draw the attention of the civic officials.