Surat Metro Under Fire After Massive Road Subsidence Raises Fears of Bigger Disaster

Surat | Gujarat — Experts have warned the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) Limited for the ongoing Surat metro project in the historic walled city areas following a major incident where the road suddenly caved in by almost 20 feet due to the excavation of the earth for the underground tunnel by the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) on Wednesday. 

The experts have stated that the metro officials have to take utmost precautions, while performing underground digging, without testing the soil for about 25 to 30 feet. They metro officials must work as per the available maps from the British regime in the walled city area. Since the walled city is located close to the Tapi river, it is under the flood zone and the underground soil remains wet all throughout the wear.

“If the metro does not take precautions in Surat, a major accident can occur” said Dr. Pankaj Gandhi, research fellow safety engineer at the Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT). “It  is a prerequisite for the metro officials to test the soil in the walled city area for 25-30 feet above the tunnel. A certain horizontal excavation is being done. The metro should work according to the maps of the British regime in the walled city. Because it is an area near the river. It is also a flood affected zone. The soil here remains wet.”

The ongoing Surat metro rail project by the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) limited in the walled city area of the diamond city has become a headache for the residents and the shop owners who have been facing one or the other problem from the last couple of years. 

Sources said that the incident occurred on Wednesday evening when the excavation work was going on the road leading from IP Mission school to Shahpore. At the Sai Baba Temple, where the excavation work is going on, the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) passed through the residential  houses underneath and suddenly the road caved in to almost 20 feet. The residents, especially the patients at the Nargis bone-setter hospital, were frightened as they felt tremors due to the incident. 

There  is fear among the residents that the foundations of nearby buildings would weaken due to ground subsidence. As a precautionary measure, the administration has declared two buildings house number: 12/1299 house number: 12/1311 as dangerous and has been evacuated with immediate effect. Following this incident, there was an atmosphere of great fear and anger among the local residents. 

According to people, due to work going on under the houses, constant shaking was felt and now the fear of loss of life and property is troubling them.

As soon as information about the accident was received, officials and engineers of the Surat Metro project rushed to the spot along with the convoy. To control the situation, the area was cordoned off and the movement of people was stopped. To prevent further land subsidence, the work of filling the cement-concrete mixture was started immediately. A technical team has been deployed to verify the stability of the buildings.

Fortunately, there is no news of any loss of life in this incident, but such a landslide incident in a densely populated area has raised questions about the safety of metro operations. There have been incidents like this in the past too in the work of Surat metro project.