Ahmedabad: A major cave-in was reported at Shivranjani Crossroads late on Thursday night. This is cave-in number 28 since June this year. It is worth recalling a similar cave-in had occurred on the same stretch last year, about 50m from the site of this cave-in.
So far this monsoon, 27 cave-ins and six incidents of road subsidence have been reported. Officials said that though the cave-appeared small at the surface, it is about 15 feet deep and is bang in the middle of the road. Officials said the cave-in was caused by an old leaking drainage line just under the road.
Officials said they are still assessing the depth of the cave-in, after which an estimate will be prepared. Officials said once site has been excavated, whether the line needed replacement or can be repaired with
trenchless technology will be assessed. Officials said that if the line was to replaced or trenchless technology is used to repair it, the cost will run into crores. However, if the pipeline is repaired and the leak patched, the work would cost about Rs 20 lakh.
One official said giant sinkholes are gulping down the municipal budget along with the odd person and vehicle. This year, more than 33 sinkholes (cave-ins and subsidence) have punctured city roads. AMC earlier this week wrote to leading scientific institutes — IIT-Gandhinagar, Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, IIT-Bombay, Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradhun,
Isro-Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad,
Gujarat Engineering Research Institute , Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), Delhi — to help the civic body find technology to detect fractures or cavities in advance so they can warn citizens and cordon off the site before the cave-in occurs.
A major cavein was reported at Shivranjani Crossroads
