Holes punched in Ahmedabad municipal commissioner’s claims

AHMEDABAD: Just a week-long reality check of the city’s roads by a high court appointed judicial team revealed the truth behind the civic authority’s claims of ‘motorable roads’ in Ahmedabad.
Since mid-2017, an active high court has been demanding accountability from the civic body both on construction of roads and fixing responsibility on officials and contractors for compromising on quality of raw materials.
A team of advocates of the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority (GSLSA), paralegals and volunteers were asked by Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Hustice Ashutosh Shastri to assess the condition of roads in AMC’s jurisdiction.
The exercise was undertaken after the petitioner of a PIL, Mustak Kadri, through advocate Amit Panchal alleged that HC directions issued in 2018 to keep city roads in good condition were not properly complied with. It was also alleged that the city’s roads remain in bad shape, particularly during and after the monsoon.
On February 9, following questions raised on the Ahmedabad municipal commissioner’s claims that the city’s roads are in “good shape”, the high court ordered an inspection through the GSLSA and sought an “exhaustive and comprehensive report” by March 2. Apart from North West Zone areas, most roads were found to be in bad to very poor condition. In the North West Zone too, potholes, digging work and broken pavements were found.
2. 5 times city’s road length dug up
In November, the AMC assured the HC that its roads department would ensure that no newly laid or resurfaced roads would be dug by road opening (RO) or utility service agencies.
A peek into the AMC’s own records reveal a different picture. Between September 2021 and July 2022, road opening agencies — which include municipal, state, central government, semi-government and private utility providers together have drawn up a schedule to dig up 25,315 road stretches in the city. This represents about 6,244km of roads. It means city’s roads, totalling of 2,580km, will be dug up 2. 5 times over. In 10 months, these agencies together will dig 3 lakh pits on city roads.