Missing drain line caused Jodhpur’s July 2022 flooding

AHMEDABAD: The waterlogging of July 2022 in Jodhpur during monsoon, now etched in the memory of every resident of the area, was not due to nature’s ire, but because of shocking civic neglect.
Heavy rainfall on July 10, 2022, almost 11 inches in a day, had turned the Jodhpur area into a waterlogged nightmare. Some areas remained submerged for days, exposing Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s (AMC) failure in diverting rainwater runoff into civic networks.
Recent investigations revealed that a defunct 1,600mm diameter line near Cambay Hotel on the 132-ft ring road primarily led to clogging of the drainage line network and caused severe waterlogging. A senior AMC official explained that the 1,600mm line broke and had caused a cave-in. “As a quick fix authorities filled the cave-in with earth near Cambay Hotel and forgot about restoring the line.” This, in turn, led to a major block in the 900mm line near Sainik Petrol Pump that extended up to Avon School Road and nearby areas like Ashwamegh Society.
The drainage line remained broken and engineers back then forgot to restore the broken drainage water line for years, silently choking the connected lines, the official explained. AMC only recently approved a Rs 1.03 crore desilting plan but is yet to approve a budget to restore the forgotten 1,600mm drainage line.
“Water spilled onto the streets and clogged most of the societies in the vicinity. The ripple effect was felt up to Rathi Hospital and towards Vaghela Society and Anupam Society on Jodhpur crossroads and in areas around Unique Apartment.
“Excessive stoppages in the flow of the main drainage line from IOC Crossroads towards Omkareshwar Temple resulted in drainage flow block in all nearby residential localities like near Rajeshri Apartment, New Adyashakti Society, Falgun Apartment, Siddhi Apartment and other areas falling within the command area of this drainage line,” explained the AMC official. Another reason that contributed to the severe waterlogging on neighbouring Prahladnagar is AMC's "forgotten" stormwater drain project, meant to divert water from Prahladnagar and Jodhpur to Makarba Lake. Sanctioned in 2016-17, the project was stalled due to AMC's initial failure to secure permission for laying the line under nearby railway tracks. This lapse had left residents knee-deep in water for four days.