Ahmedabad’s municipal water tanks have come under scrutiny after Ellisbridge MLA Amit Shah alleged that their safety and maintenance were being handled without adequate oversight, while urging the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to replace private security agencies with ex-servicemen and establish a dedicated engineering design cell.
The concerns were raised during a coordination committee meeting involving the city’s legislators and the municipal administration. Shah referred to the reported discovery of bones in a water tank in the Asarwa Gamtal area and alleged that municipal water tanks were not being cleaned regularly. He also questioned whether the responsible employees and officers were adequately supervising the facilities.
The remarks place the security and maintenance of drinking-water infrastructure at the centre of a wider discussion about accountability within the civic administration. Shah suggested that ex-servicemen should be entrusted with the security of water tanks instead of private agencies. The report does not specify whether the AMC has accepted the proposal, ordered an inquiry or announced a revised maintenance protocol.
The meeting also highlighted concerns about the design and operation of Ahmedabad’s road infrastructure. Shah pointed to a recently inaugurated bridge at Vejalpur-Makarba, saying that one end of the structure descends directly onto a crossroads and has contributed to traffic difficulties. He argued that such design shortcomings should not be accepted in urban bridge projects.
Shah said the municipal engineering department had been discussing the creation of a separate design unit for several years, but that the proposal had not been implemented. According to his account, an in-house design unit could help prevent design-related problems in bridges and other civic works. He also called for faster progress on the overbridge project connecting the C.N. Vidyalaya area through Panchvati towards Law Garden, which he described as moving slowly.
The legislator further alleged that several city bridges had been designed to terminate before major junctions, increasing the risk of accidents. He proposed longer bridges covering three or four junctions instead of structures designed to address only one intersection. Shah also said Ahmedabad was behind Surat and Vadodara in the development of bridge designs, though the report did not provide a comparative assessment or project data to substantiate that claim.
Other civic issues were raised at the meeting. Shah sought the appointment of a permanent superintendent at V.S. Hospital instead of continuing with an in-charge arrangement, and requested the opening of town-planning roads. Vejalpur MLA Amit Thakor called for a separate storm-water line in the area designed exclusively to carry rainwater. He also sought new roads, removal of encroachments and traffic-management measures around ongoing bridge and other construction works.
The meeting’s demands cover several parts of Ahmedabad’s urban system: drinking-water asset security, engineering review, bridge connectivity, junction safety, drainage capacity, road access and municipal staffing. The next steps will depend on whether the AMC records these proposals for action and announces specific timelines for inspections, design-unit creation, storm-water works and traffic interventions.
