AHMEDABAD: One doesn’t need the wizardry of Hogwarts, but a few rain spells are enough to turn Ahmedabad’s ‘mazboot’ roads to rubble. You skid, fall and often break your backs on these roads, forget break-neck speeds. One need not go far.
In Nava Vadaj alone, which witnessed one of the highest number of road stretches resurfaced during 2020-21 budget in western Ahmedabad, 23 stretches in total, many have already started to crack. TOI sampled three stretches in Nava Vadaj area and found that their defect liability period has been marked between November and December 2023.
"The high court has ruled six times since 2010 on potholes and road works, reprimanding the AMC for poor infrastructure. Safe, motorable and reliable roads for commuting are the right of every citizen. Ahmedabad roads are still plagued by caveins, potholes, and pits which pose a serious danger especially during the monsoon. It is time the AMC commits to building high quality, long-lasting public roads.-TimesView"
“We are yet to check whether the roads constructed witnessed some digging for civic utilities. The contractor too has to be asked,” claimed a senior AMC zonal official.
It’s worth mentioning that the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) spends an average 11.75% of its annual budget expenditure for road, street maintenance and footpath and sweeping of roads. With expansion of city, the expenditure has also increased from Rs 618 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 962.59 crore in 2020-21
Surprisingly the expenditure for resurfacing the roads has also increased every year, the expenditure for resurfacing road was Rs 159.92 crore in 2015-16, but the expenditure for resurfacing jumped to Rs 241.91 crore in 2020-21, claims the Patheya budget centre report for 2020-21.
“AMC should reduce the expenditure on resurfacing roads by improving the quality and durability of initial build so that the roads last longer. The percentage expenditure on resurfacing roads is around 25% of the total money spent on road construction and maintenance, including footpaths,” claims Mahender Jethmalani of Patheya budget centre. He adds, “A large portion of roads in city get washed away in the heavy monsoon rainfall and road quality gets deteriorated, causing the need to resurface.”
