Gujarat suffers as 3,000 kms of roads washed away in rains, contractors safe

As rains spread across Gujarat, more than 3,000 kilometres of roads in the state have been badly damaged. Additionally, potholes have appeared on national highways, state highways and city roads, inconveniencing citizens. 

The increasing accidents due to the potholes have become a cause for concern. 

Instead of acknowledging a systemic failure, the government is busy taking credit for repairing the potholes on the roads that were built with taxpayers’ money.

Travelling on the pothole-ridden roads has become risky and a time-consuming affair. Public anger is rising as people suffer daily. Even as the Roads and Buildings Department ignores the plight of locals, MLAs and MPs are seemingly incapable of pressing the government to take disciplinary action. 

Citizens are left wondering where to file complaints. In Navsari, the municipality receives around 80 pothole-related complaints daily and recently started accepting them on WhatsApp. 

On the GujMarg app, over 4,000 complaints related to potholes have been registered. Despite this, the government doesn’t seem inclined to take strict action against the contractors responsible. Instead, it has launched a superficial drive to patch up roads with tar, which comes off following another rain.

The government itself has admitted that due to rainwater, 323 km of roads in Ahmedabad, 378 km in Rajkot, and 177 km in Gandhinagar have deteriorated. That makes a total of 609 km of damaged roads in these cities alone, with over 16,000 potholes reported. And yet, by merely repairing some roads and filling some potholes, the government tries to present this as a grand success. In reality, no action has been taken against the defaulting contractors who deliver substandard work.

Valsad collector’s bold order

The Collector of Valsad has issued a circular stating that if anyone dies due to a pothole, a case of culpable homicide will be registered against the responsible contractor. Reacting to this, former MP Virji Thummar wrote a letter to the chief minister, asking: if the Valsad Collector can issue such an order, why can’t it be enforced throughout Gujarat? Why doesn’t the Gujarat government instruct all collectors to implement this order? Why is the BJP government shielding these contractors?