Ahmedabad: Public fountains have long served as vital elements of urban architecture in Ahmedabad, offering more than mere aesthetic appeal. Once symbols of the city’s pride, these water features are today facing a crisis and are fast vanishing. As summer scorches the city, what should have been oases of visual relief now lie defunct, dismantled, or forgotten , thanks to bureaucratic apathy and zero upkeep. Keeping even a fraction of them running, seems to be a big drain for the civic body. The city, as a senior Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) official says, once boasted over 90 fountains at traffic circles, lakesides, and public gardens. However, an AMC report in 2023 put the figure at 59 fountains and said that only 19 were out of order — a statement that triggered debates, as ground estimates suggested a far higher total. Officials said that commissioning of fountains is entered in AMC records, but demolitions are not, which could be the reason why the figures contradict.In the past seven years alone, 31 fountains have been dismantled and 20 stand defunct and dry. Four fountains, each costing Rs 20 lakh, installed inside Vastrapur Lake during the President’s visit in 2014 have since been shut down, while three more outside the lake’s main gate remain dry. Despite the ongoing lake redevelopment plans, there is no clarity on whether these fountains will ever be revived.Darpan Circle, Subhash Circle, Hatkesh Police Station Circle, and Nava Wadaj Circle — landmarks once graced by active water features now host defunct ones. “The Nava Wadaj fountain, built in 2011 at a cost of Rs 55 lakh from an MP’s grant has been defunct for nearly a decade. The fountain has now vanished from AMC’s official records,” the official admitted. A similar fate is of the three fountains along Ranip’s Gaurav Path, and several others between Sabarmati and Rambagh. The feature near Sabarmati Power House was pulled down for the metro rail project. Poor maintenance is the chief culprit. “Unattended fountains become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, one of the main reasons why they were dismantled. We generally do not consult the public,” said the official. Interestingly, while new installations require approvals from the AMC’s standing committee or general board, the decision to dismantle them are frequently taken at the administrative level.
