AMC spent Rs 3 crore to fix 66 cave-ins on Ashram Road.

Times of India: Ahmedabad: Thursday, July 02, 2020.

Revealing the potholes on the path to the Smart City dream, the AMC has said it spent Rs 2.78 crore between January 2017 and March 2020 to repair 66 cave-ins on and around Ashram Road. The corporation made the revelation on June 26 in response to a query filed under the RTI (Right to Information) Act.The response showed that posh areas of the city are riddled with a large number of cave-ins. Navrangpura and Paldi had the maximum number of cave-ins. The sites with craters are Commerce Six Roads, Mithakhali Underpass, and Stadium Crossroads. Paldi-Bhatta Crossroads is another affected area.

The RTI applicant, Bharatsinh Jhala, said that the AMC’s response called into question the civic body’s efficiency and diligence.

“Every year, there have been reports of cave-ins,” Jhala said. “And sometimes citizens fall into these big holes and many suffer critical injuries.” But the civic body seems to have made little effort to solve the problem, Jhala said. “Taxpayers’ money has been swallowed by these cave-ins,” he said. “And the civic body does not take any serious action against the errant road-building contractors.”

Jhala said the problem is acute in the so-called plush areas of west Ahmedabad. “People have been paying taxes to get good roads and not to fall into cave-ins,” he said. “It is time for the AMC to mend the roads, initiate an inquiry into the money spent to fix the cave-ins, and take action against the officials and contractors responsible for the mess.”