School Van Tanker Slip Into Holes As Surat Roads Break Down After 1st Showers

The first bouts of rain on Tuesday and Wednesday have taken a toll on the city’s roads, at least six of which have given way to potholes and cave-ins that caused several accidents, but no injuries, luckily.

These six roads were re-carpeted in the last six months.

Flooded with complaints, Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has issued notices to the four contractors who had won tenders for the six roads.

Cave-ins were noticed at three locations on a freshly laid 400-metre 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 kids. No one was hurt.

On Thursday, a water tanker found itself trapped at a caved-in road portion in Dindoli; in Udhna, a truck’s wheels slipped into a pit.

The Dindoli incident saw a traffic jam since the hole was in the middle of the road. It took a few hours for officials to remove the tanker.

The roads that suffered damages were reworked after the completion of a Surat Municipal Corporation project to lay water supply pipelines for newly added areas and where drainage lines were laid.

SMC’s hydraulic wing issued the notices to contractors Hindustan Fabrication (Udhna Zone), SVR Construction Company (Rander), P. Das Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd (Sarthana), A V Patel (Athwa), for the alleged substandard work, directing them to repair the roads or bear the expense 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 metre of the water distribution line was laid by roadside, and 11.99 km of water distribution line was laid with a trench beneath the existing roads in the city. We have noticed and received complaints about cave-ins at portions where the trench in the stormwater drainage and drinking water networks collapsed.”

Meanwhile, SMC standing committee chairman Rajan Patel noted, “We received complaints from citizens about cave-ins, and issued notices to four contractors. They should bear the expenses incurred. In the notice, we have told the contractors to stay alert and ready with materials to repair such cave-ins should they appear.”