Multiple civic surgeries paralyze Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: It's the usual 7.30 pm Amdavadi peak hour at Bopal circle. A huge amount of dust is kicked up by slow moving vehicles, which now hangs thick on this stretch only adding to the ever rising respirable particulate pollution. This road, which has been dug up multiple times in the past, underwent another massive civic surgery a few days ago.
A section of the road was dug up for a 'pipeline replacement' exercise, claims a senior AMC official.The digging has taken place barely days before the city is to receive its first monsoon showers. "The roads if laid now will not stand even a single monsoon shower. It will be a waste of public money," feels Siddharth Panchal, a Bopal-based entrepreneur. He complains how the same stretch has been dug up multiple times just before the flyover construction had begun. "If there were plans of a flyover, then the civic authorities should have ensured shifting of civic utilizes in advance," says Himali Chaudhry, a housewife from Geet society.
The evening scene at the junction is nothing less than a nightmare. Traffic moves at a snail's pace because of the dug up condition of roads which within minutes witness hundreds of vehicles piling up. Residents now fear that since soil compaction is difficult to be achieved before the road is laid during monsoon, a cave-in is feared in this stretch.