28 cave-ins, over 4,000 potholes: Monsoon leaves its mark on Ahmedabad city

Ahmedabad city has recorded a total of 410 mm rainfall in July so far, with nearly 254 mm between July 10 and July 11 alone. As a result, the stormwater and drainage pipelines have been damaged in several places.

“The barricading on the cave-in in Vastral adjoining the metro pillar (pier) was done yesterday (Saturday) itself. The damage to the drainage line is 26 feet deep, which caused the road to cave in. Repair work is in progress,” said AMC city engineer Harpalsinh Zala.

A spokesperson of the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) said, “The road is not under GMRC. Some AMC utility work was done last month on the road where the cave-in below the Metro route along Vastral Ring Road between Viram Crossroad and Vastral was reported.”

When asked if the road was re-carpeted last month, Zala said, “Roads along the Metro route have been re-carpeted several times due to the ongoing Metro corridor work.”

Around five to six of the total 28 cave-ins reported this season from the city–a majority of which happened during the past week–the major ones on the main trunk line. Seven of the 28 have been repaired by the AMC, while work is in progress on 14 and that on the remaining will start soon, said officials.

All cave-ins have been reported on the drainage pipelines. The highest number of these are reported from the West Zone where of the total six cave-ins, one has been repaired followed by five each in the South and South West zones, four in the Central zone, three each in the North West and North zones and two in the East zone.

When asked about the reasons for such a high frequency of cave-ins from across the city this monsoon season, Zala said, “The drainage lines across Ahmedabad city, be it Ashram Road, Navrangpura or Paldi, are 30-40 years old and at a depth of 20-25 feet. These are cement pipe sewage and due to Methane gas emissions, the crowns of these pipes get corroded.”

“After heavy rains the subsoil weight increases due to which the underneath pipes give away. Also, the underground utilities work such as (those for) mobile networks damage the pipelines which are not known then but only during monsoons,” he added.

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Also, in response to the allegations by residents and opposition on AMC’s laxity towards repair work of such cave-ins, Zala said, “People think that AMC is not working. This is not true. With high pressure in the main trunk lines during the supply hours, the window for repair is only during the night–from 11 pm till 5 am–when the pressure is low.”

Potholes and road damages are another issue faced by residents in the city after the heavy rainfall. According to AMC data, the civic body filled or did ‘patchworks’ on 4,358 potholes over the four days between July 13 till July 16. The highest number of potholes was filled in the South zone (around 1,000), followed by North West 892, East 723, West 657, North 549, South West 277 and Central 267.

Out of a total network of 2,635-km road network in the city, upgradation of water, drainage and storm pipeline and fault repairing, and utility work such as cables, gas, power and mobile network is done along 800-1,000 km every year.