Shoddy road repair work putting lives at risk: NGO letter to Ahmedabad authorities

By A Representative
Gujarat civil rights leader Jatin Sheth, convener, Nagrik Sashaktikaran Manch, in a letter to Ahmedabad municipal commissioner Vijay Nehra has sought his intervention for proper repair of roads which have suffered major damage due to monsoon rains. Providing several photographs, Sheth has cited the road cave-in at Helmet Circle, where shoddy work repair job is allegedly putting lives of people riding vehicles at risk.

At the site, said Sheth, only two labourers were at work, there was no supervisor, there was no contact detail available with any of them on whom to complain in case some defect was detected, and no board providing proper information about the repaired work.
He added, "Cavities can be seen in the photographs. The top area was filled with mud on which asphalt was poured. Already, following the repair, the crack seems to be visible again. Filling in the cavity would require stones or pebbles and extra clay. Nothing appears to have been done. Even today, if you dig there, the cavity would be reappear."
Pointing out that lives of innocent civilians, including school-going children, using the road are at risk, Sheth, who has forwarded the letter to the Ahmedabad mayor and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation standing committee chairman, regretted, despite complaining to the authorities, "We never received necessarily feedback from your office. We wonder if anyone was aware of what was going on."

Right to walk, right to livelihood: Clearing footpaths 'can't mean' clearing out the urban poor

By Aseem Mishra* India’s cities are locked in a quiet but intensifying struggle over one of their most contested public spaces: the footpath. For pedestrians, a footpath is basic infrastructure—a strip of ground that should allow people to move safely, independently and with dignity. For millions of informal workers, the same stretch of pavement is a workplace, a source of daily income and often the difference between survival and destitution.

A fearless spirit lost: Rebecca Thomson dies at 17-hour Catalina Swim Mark

By Harsh Thakor On July 26, 2026, Rebecca “Becky” Thomson suffered cardiac arrest while attempting the Catalina Channel Swim — a marathon open water crossing from Catalina Island to the California mainland. After swimming for 17 hours, Thomson collapsed in the water. Despite the painstaking efforts of emergency responders and the medical staff at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, she succumbed to a devastating hypoxic brain injury and died Friday evening.

As luxury home prices surge, India’s affordable housing market faces a squeeze

Counterview News India’s housing market is increasingly showing two very different faces: affluent buyers are driving demand for premium homes, even as the supply of genuinely affordable housing continues to shrink.

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