By Our Representative
Ahmedabad's civil rights organization, Nagrik Sashaktikaran Manch (NSM), has decided to launch 'Improve roads, Save lives' campaign on Sundays starting July 21 across different parts of the city for the next two months, reminding city authorities that the recent Kankaria incident, in which two persons died and 29 injured when the ride collapsed, was only a grim reminder to "the cost of negligence" on the part of those who had assigned business to the firm which operated it.
Jatin Seth, convener, NSM, in a letter to the Ahmedabad municipal commissioner and mayor, said, such innocents may again be lost if cave-ins, pot/pit holes on roads are not taken seriously. "This will happen if the Ahmedabad Municipal Commission (AMC) keeps on ignoring all warnings issued by news media and citizens when there will be heavy rainfall during the current monsoon season", he added.
The campaign, which will cover Sarangpur, Odhav, Rakhial, Sukhramnagar, Maninagar, Daxini Bridge, Hatkeshwar, CTM, Vastral, Khokhra, Nikol, Vatva and Lambha, will especially focus on roads destroyed because of the ongoing construction work of Ahmedabad metro, pointing out, the authorities should immediately go in for repairing them.
Giving specific examples, along with supporting photographs and newspaper clippings, Seth said, "There may be around 10 cave-ins on just 1 km road stretching between Danilimda and Khidiarnagar. The entire road as per my observation is hollow from inside and any heavy vehicle passing on the road during heavy rainfall may meet serious accident."
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