Gujarat Hardlook | The other side of Ahmedabad’s rapid infra push: Dust, slow traffic & chaos

In the works is a four-lane flyover and a two-lane underpass estimated to cost Rs 127.92 crore, with a 30-month deadline. The project has led to road closures and diversions. With the work of building a girder also underway for the construction of this flyover, the road connecting Vadaj and Ranip via Ramapir Tekra is closed for two months from the beginning of October.

‘Go slow’, say the signs on the serpentine barricades at the circle, as traffic crawls from all sides, leading to snarls during peak hours in the mornings and evenings.

Express infographic

This has also led to air quality issues. The air in the vicinity is thick with dust, smoke, accompanied by the constant drilling noise. People staying in nearby slums say it has become almost impossible to live in peace. The road that once connected the area smoothly to the main city is now a maze of diversions and traffic jams. Ambulances struggle to pass, school buses get stuck and tempers rise in the heat and fumes.

Shopkeepers around the site are struggling to survive. “My customers stopped coming here. Who wants to take a long route just for a cigarette or a cup of tea?” said a tea vendor nearby. His earnings are down by almost half, he added. Many smaller vendors are feeling forgotten – left to watch their businesses die while the civil works, according to them, “drag on”.

Going Down: Hatkeshwar Bridge, Maninagar

The roads on both sides of the Hatkeshwar Bridge are barricaded as several machines are at work. Unlike other infrastructure projects under construction, the Hatkeshwar Bridge is an exception as it is being demolished over severe structural issues and safety concerns. The Hatkeshwar Bridge, a crucial link between Khokhra and CTM crossroads in Ahmedabad, was mired under controversies and mismanagement barely after it was opened to the public in November 2017, after having been closed for three years due to structural issues. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has completed around 40 per cent of the demolition work within five years of its construction. The demolition work began on August 21 and is expected to be completed within three months.

Express photo

Built at a cost of Rs 40 crore, it is now being demolished at a cost of nearly Rs 4 crore by a Mumbai-based company, Shri Ganesh Corporation. The demolition cost will be recovered from the original contractor, Ajay Engineering Infrastructure Private Limited. The AMC authorities said payment for another flyover project by the same contractor (Ajay Engineering) at the Pallav junction in Naranpura – although it is complete – has been withheld to ensure recovery. The Hatkeshwar bridge is being dismantled in six different stages with technical advice being taken from the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar.

After the demolition of the bridge, a new road will be constructed at the site and work in this regard will begin soon, AMC authorities said.

However, the barricading of the area for the demolition has left local residents and commuters at the receiving end.

Mukesh Chaudhry, who runs a mobile phone shop for the past eight years and lives nearby, said, “The demolition work is definitely having a bad effect on our shop as people are not able to cross the roads. But we are hoping it will be completed in the next five months so we can start working properly again.”

Ramesh Patidar (42), who has been running a tea stall near the bridge for the past 30 years, says that although he doesn’t face many problems, others have faced losses in their businesses. “The entire row of shops are closed due to road closures. It is good that the demolition work has started,” he said.

The local residents are also bearing the brunt of the demolition work. “The bridge was unnecessary to begin with. Neither did its existence help resolve the traffic issues and now due to this road blockage we are facing a lot of issues while commuting daily to our work and daily errands,” one of the residents said.

The supervisors at the demolition site said that half of the barricades will be removed by December and the work is expected to be over around February- March

Flyover at Panjrapol Junction

Earlier this year, the Gujarat High Court struck down a petition by some Ahmedabad residents challenging the AMC’s decision to build a flyover on this busy junction, on the grounds that it would not solve the traffic issues and would reduce the green cover. The project cleared at a cost of Rs 109.55 crore has led to the closure of the road connecting the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) and Gulbai Tekra, and traffic is diverted via the service roads. The 650-metre long, 17-metre wide bridge is planned to ease congestion from Ambawadi to Vastrapur and Gujarat University to Nehru Nagar.

The project, nevertheless, has triggered chaos in the area with commuters, residents, and businesses in Ambawadi grappling with traffic jams. It is claimed that the project, with a deadline of January 2027, will benefit more than 1.5 lakh commuters once complete, but on the ground, frustration is mounting with residents complaining that the months of digging and diversions “are yet to see any substantial progress”.

Loud honking, dust and traffic jams have become a part of daily life, making the area risky for pedestrians.

Once again, the businesses suffering are the tea and paan shops. Rameshbhai, who has been running a paan shop for the past 12 years, where passers-by would stop to chat, says, “Earlier, I would earn Rs 1,500-2,000 a day. Now, I barely make Rs 700. The road is blocked from both sides, so people avoid coming here. Even rickshaw drivers don’t wait.”

Asked to compare how traffic feels now to the way it was before construction, he says, “Total chaos. Morning to night, there is just honking and dust. They say a flyover will help — but for now, we just want to breathe.”

Just a few metres away, Meena Patel, who operates a small tea stall on the IIM-A side, is upset over the constant noise. “Every day, we clean the dust on everything. We used to serve students and office staff (from the B-school campus). Now, even they cross the road at a point farther away, because it is dangerous to walk near the barricades. But what can we do? We cannot shift from here.”

Traffic police stationed nearby confirm that the situation is tough. “The diversion is causing a bottleneck near Gulbai Tekra,” says traffic police personnel managing the intersection. “We try to manage manually during peak hours, but the volume is too high.”

Safety and environmental concerns are also being raised by area residents. “If the traffic has reduced, why the need for a massive flyover?” questions a local activist.

Despite the criticism, AMC officials insist that the flyover project is part of a long-term traffic solution. “Short-term inconvenience for long-term gain,” says one of the project engineers on the site. “Once done, it will decongest IIM-A to Law Garden and Panjrapol to Ambawadi routes,” he says.

Back at the tea stall, Meena lets out a sigh while she pours another cup. “We’ve heard that line before. They said it will finish in a year. It is already more than that. Maybe it will be done by the time my grandson starts college.” For now, Panjrapol is a symbol of the growing pains of Ahmedabad, of sidewalks torn up, traffic snarls and questions that remain unanswered.

Another tea stall owner, Ramesh Solanki, 42, says, “Half of the customers have stopped coming due to blockage of road and heavy traffic. We are barely making ends meet. The flyover might help in the future but now it is making our lives harder.”

Sameer Khan, 27, an autorickshaw driver, said, “The roads are always completely jammed. From Shyamal crossroad to Panjrapol, it takes double the time. Customers complain and cancel rides. The AMC should either speed up the work or give a clear timeline. People are confused every day.”

Railway station redevelopment, Kalupur

The bridges at Kalupur and Sarangpur built decades ago are part of the redevelopment plan of Kalupur railway station plan. Local residents claim the project has been under construction for some months now. Many of them shared that they believe the sudden spurt of construction activity is not keeping in mind the public utilities but because Ahmedabad is gearing up to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games. “Now that the city wants to look clean for the world, they’re pretending to care,” said a fruit seller, whose stall stands beside the half-dug road near Kalupur bridge.

Highways, Too

Stretches on at least three highways in and around Ahmedabad are closed for repairs or for new projects by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), according to a government statement issued on Saturday.

There’s patchwork and repair work on rain-affected and other damaged roads and overbridges in different areas on NH147, NH58 and NH168G. In the Sargasan to Vaishnodevi section of Chiloda Gandhinagar Sarkhej National Highway 147, work has been undertaken to complete the asphalt patchwork, due to the damage caused by the unseasonal rains after Diwali and keeping in mind the continuous traffic during the day. In the ISKCON to Sanand flyover section of the same highway, work on an elevated corridor of around 4 km is in progress too, the statement said.

‘Some inconvenience now, more convenience later’

On the spate of ongoing infrastructure projects across the city, Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Banchhanidhi Pani told The Indian Express the chaos was “only temporary.”

“We are on the job… Completing projects as soon as possible. New infrastructure comes with some inconvenience but it leads to more convenience that is why it is in the interest of the city. As a city, we need to create such infrastructure for the citizens and sport events like CWG are complementary – as a matter of rule, we are to provide facilities. Ahmedabad is becoming a metropolitan city and it is a city that looks towards the future not just sports but other events too. For instance, we hosted a major event – the Coldplay concert, apart from some major business events. We are getting ready for the people of Ahmedabad and complementing any future needs. Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar are asking for more infrastructure and better services,” Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Banchhanidhi Pani told The Indian Express.

(Jyoti Chauhan and Drishti Bhatt are interns at the Ahmedabad office of The Indian Express.)