3 minutes of readingSuratJuly 3, 2026 06:03 am IST
The first rains on Tuesday and Wednesday have taken their toll on the city’s roads, at least six of which have given way to potholes and landslides that have caused several accidents, but fortunately no injuries.
These six roads were re-carpeted in the last six months.
Flooded with complaints, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) issued notices to the four contractors who had won the tenders for the six roads.
Landslides were observed at three places on a 400-metre newly paved road in Mota Varachha, trapping a truck and a car. A van carrying schoolchildren fell into a sinkhole in Limbayat on Wednesday. Locals rushed to the scene and rescued the children. No one was injured.
On Thursday, a water tanker got stuck in a sunken stretch of road in Dindoli; In Udhna, the wheels of a truck slipped into a hole.
In the Dindoli incident, a traffic jam occurred as the hole was in the middle of the road. It took officials a few hours to remove the tanker.
The damaged roads were redeveloped after the completion of a Surat Municipal Corporation project to lay water supply pipelines for newly added areas and where drainage lines were laid.
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SMC’s hydraulic wing issued the notices to contractors Hindustan Fabrication (Udhna Zone), SVR Construction Company (Rander), P. Das Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd (Sarthana), AV Patel (Athwa), for the alleged substandard work, directing them to repair the roads or bear the expenses if the corporation carries out the repairs.
SMC hydraulic department executive engineer SC Vasava said, “The work to lay drinking water distribution pipeline for the newly added areas started in October 2025 and was completed in the first week of June this year. A total of 83,293 meters of roadside water distribution line was laid and 11.99 km of water distribution line with a trench was laid under the existing roads in the city. We have noticed and received complaints about landslides in parts where the ditch in the stormwater drainage and drinking water networks collapsed.”
Meanwhile, SMC standing committee chairman Rajan Patel said, “We have received complaints from citizens about landslides and have issued notices to four contractors. They should bear the expenses incurred. In the notice, we have told the contractors to remain alert and ready with materials to repair such landslides in case they appear.”
