Metro-hit roads a scare this monsoon

After the reputedly endless months of summer time, the sight of monsoon seems like a huge aid. Now that pre-monsoon showers have soaking wet the town, monsoon must now not be a ways behind. While that may ideally be music to the ears of every Amdavadi, what prevents it from being so is the condition of roads within the town.

Battered by way of ongoing building work, roads alongside the Metro route within the town are just the spots one would want to avoid in case of rains.

Last year, too, electorate had suffered because of asymmetric and potholed roads during monsoon. With Metro authorities yet to fix the adjoining roads, this year is probably not any other. While authorities claim that there shall be no hassles this year because the work has started, the truth remains that the roads have now not yet been serviced and are anticipated to pose a large number of hassle for commuters.

Work on Metro rail is in progress on stretches in Navrangpura, close to Anjali crossroads, Vijay crossroads to Drive-in Road, Thaltej, Commerce crossroads to Vijay crossroads, reverse Vejalpur AMC and many others.

For past 3 years, the roads on these stretches had been in a foul shape, resulting in critical inconvenience to commuters in addition to within reach residents. Some other folks Mirror talked to said that if the roads are so unhealthy even in absence of rains, one may most effective imagine the worst if it rained closely.

Arjun Suthar, a resident of Navrangpura, said, "The road from Stadium crossroads to Navrangpura AMTS stand exists in patches, broken and in a bad shape. Monsoon is almost here, but the roads have not yet been repaired. Residents are suffering."

Sanket Patel, a scholar of Gujarat University, said, "The stretch to Helmet crossroads from University is in a pathetic state. Half of the road is closed on both the sides. This makes moving on the stretch a struggle on any given day. The road gets waterlogged in monsoon and I feel residents will face more problems due to Metro."

Seconding him, Shweta Rathod, scholar and resident of Shahibaug, said, "The road is really bad from Commerce crossroads to Vijay crossroads. Roads have become narrow because of the Metro work and there are lot of potholes and patches. The stretch gets waterlogged every time. There are several coaching classes on this stretch and students find it extremely difficult to move on this road."

Naranpura resident Brija Patel said, "Every year, the roads on the Metro route are waterlogged during monsoon. I have to take this route to drop and pick up my children from school and it is pure hell driving on it."

When contacted, Amit Gupta, leader basic manager, corporate affairs, Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) Limited, said, "There are Metro routes on which road work is on. There are a few stretches on which the work is over. The resurfacing of remaining roads is in progress. The repairing of road works will be done before the arrival of monsoon."