AMC's rain woes: Rs264 crore lost in damaged infrastructure

Good monsoon could be a good enough reason for bringing smiles to farmers and economists. But, it would increase the burden of taxpayers in urban areas due to damages in infrastructure. Rain has caused damages to the tune of Rs264 crore in Ahmedabad alone.

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has prepared
the damage assessment report which it would place before the urban development department for funds.

The state urban development department has asked all municipal corporations in the state to provide the rain damage assessment report to get funds required to strengthen the infrastructure.

The persistent spells of rain have washed away city roads making it difficult for commuters to venture out of home. The civic body has also come under severe criticism from all corners of society. According to an AMC estimate, a total of 110 roads have been damaged in Amdavad this monsoon.

“We will require Rs238 crore to repair these roads,” said M Thennarasan, deputy municipal commissioner of AMC.

Roads in all the zones have been damaged. But the new west zone tops the list. A major part of the money received from the state government for road repairing would go into repairing roads 60 feet or wider, said sources in the AMC.

The continuous spells of shower have also led to a drainage breakdown and cave-ins in the city. According to an estimate, over 70 cave-ins took place in different zones with the latest incident of cave-in due to breakdown taking place on Saturday.

Besides, the civic body would also have to clean up the roads and spray pesticides to check mosquito breeding.

“Some of the expenditures mentioned in the reports are for damaged gardens, street lights and other damages,” said a senior AMC official.

Sources, however, did not seem optimistic about getting much money from the state government because of past experience.

For, the government had given only Rs25 crore to repair roads damaged in the monsoon last year, they claimed.