‘Constantly Sidelined’: Patna Mayor Writes to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Over Smart City Snub

Patna: Mayor Sita Sahu has written a formal letter to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, voicing her frustration over what she described as continued marginalisation of the city’s elected civic leadership in key official programmes. The immediate trigger, she said, was the failure to invite her and the Deputy Mayor to the recent foundation stone laying and inauguration of projects under Patna Smart City and Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo).

In her letter, Sahu criticised the omission of the Mayor’s office from the May 20 event held at the Patna Smart City Building, calling it “deliberate and disrespectful.” “The Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Patna Municipal Corporation were not invited, even though the event involved schemes directly linked to the urban development of the city,” she wrote.

Sahu pointed out that a previous social media poster for the same event had featured her name and that of the Deputy Mayor, but a revised version subsequently removed their names. “This is not the first time we have been sidelined,” she said, adding that such practices erode the authority and accountability of elected municipal representatives.

“The members of the Municipal Corporation are elected by the public and are directly answerable to them. If this continued exclusion persists, our ability to discharge our responsibilities effectively and maintain public trust will be compromised,” the letter stated.

The Mayor urged the Chief Minister to take corrective steps and ensure the participation of local elected bodies in all programmes concerning urban governance. The letter underscores the growing unease between the state administration and local civic representatives, particularly at a time when infrastructure projects are being showcased as symbols of Bihar’s development.