Tunneling work of Ahmedabad metro project halted after sinkhole appears

“In the last few days, we have evacuated about 27 families having a total 176 members,” said a senior official from Metro-link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA), the company that is building the project.

These houses are about 100-150 meters from the underground section that begins at the Apparel Park on the East-West corridor of the project. “The tunnel begins at this place and so it is shallow. In other words, the tunnel which is usually at a depth of 15 meters is at a depth of 8-10 meters from the surface. One of the two tunnels has already been dug for 500 meters and work on the second one was at 150 meters when the incident occurred yesterday (Friday),” the official, said referring to the appearance of the sinkhole, which the authorities are still trying to fill.

“The buildings were already declared dangerous by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and were served notices as they were in dilapidated conditions due to lack of repairs. Yesterday, when the tunnel work was on, we evacuated about 15 families as a precautionary measure as it was raining heavily,” the official said, adding that those evacuated have been given alternative arrangements for accommodation.

On Saturday, tunneling work was paused and safety officials from MEGA conducted a physical inspection of the buildings near the sinkhole.

The 6.83 kilometer-long underground section is the only underground route that lies on the 20.5 kilometer of the East-West corridor of the Ahmdedabad metro rail project (Phase-I).