Rain floods BRTS corridor in Ahmedabad, but Riverfront escapes

The Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) infrastructure was something the city boasted of quite often. But few days of heavy rains and what one gets to see on the BRTS route is washed out roads, potholes, broken railings and waterlogging.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) had spent around Rs8.5 crore of tax payers money per kilometer of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) corridor. But the heavy rains have washed away many parts of the barely one-year old infrastructure, which was termed as world class by the civic body.

It is believed that the heavy downpour in the last few days is likely to causes losses in crores to the Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited (AJL). The AJL engineers are still busy calculating the loss caused due to the heavy rains. The most common complaints that the AJL received revolve around waterlogging in BRTS corridor, damaged infrastructure and faulty LED screen that stops working among others.

“I have asked the AJL engineers to provide me with an estimate of the loss caused due to the heavy rain. We have received complaints about damage to infrastructure at many places,” said AJL executive director UC Padoa. He said the main problem that AJL faces in operating BRTS is at the waterlogged underpasses.

Meanwhile, another of AMC's ambitious project - the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Limited (SRFDCL) was saved from a repeat of 2006 floods when heavy rains washed away the sand used to reclaim the land.

This time the 6 metre high retaining fall near the reclaimed land has saved the sand from being washed away.  Executive director for SRFDCL, Dilip Mahajan said this time there is hardly any damage to the infrastructure under construction. “The engineering team of the SRFDCL inspected the entire stretch of the project. There is no damage,” he said.