Shoddy road repair work putting lives at risk: NGO letter to Ahmedabad authorities

By Our Representative
Gujarat civil rights leader Jatin Sheth, convener, Nagrik Sashaktikaran Manch, in a letter to Ahmedabad municipal commissioner Vijay Nehra has sought his intervention for proper repair of roads which have suffered major damage due to monsoon rains. Providing several photographs, Sheth has cited the road cave-in at Helmet Circle, where shoddy work repair job is allegedly putting lives of people riding vehicles at risk.

At the site, said Sheth, only two labourers were at work, there was no supervisor, there was no contact detail available with any of them on whom to complain in case some defect was detected, and no board providing proper information about the repaired work.
He added, "Cavities can be seen in the photographs. The top area was filled with mud on which asphalt was poured. Already, following the repair, the crack seems to be visible again. Filling in the cavity would require stones or pebbles and extra clay. Nothing appears to have been done. Even today, if you dig there, the cavity would be reappear."
Pointing out that lives of innocent civilians, including school-going children, using the road are at risk, Sheth, who has forwarded the letter to the Ahmedabad mayor and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation standing committee chairman, regretted, despite complaining to the authorities, "We never received necessarily feedback from your office. We wonder if anyone was aware of what was going on."

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