Surat: A city bus got stuck in the Adajan area on Tuesday after the road beneath its front tyre caved in , forcing the driver and passengers to disembark. The incident, which took place near Choksi Wadi, left the bus immobile and highlighted the poor condition of roads in Surat following heavy rainfall.Photos and videos of the stranded bus quickly went viral on social media, with citizens expressing frustration over poor road maintenance. Ironically, the bus — a vehicle operated by the very civic body responsible for road upkeep — became a symbol of the city's monsoon-induced infrastructure woes.Following heavy rains, many roads across Surat have deteriorated, prompting the SMC to intensify repair efforts. The civic body has also started penalising contractors for substandard work.

So far, Rs 23 lakh has been recovered from contractors whose work was still under the defect liability period (DLP), reaffirming the corporation's commitment to enforcing accountability.On the same day, a large-scale road repair operation was in progress. The drive involved 158 technical staff, 619 labourers, and a fleet of machinery. A total of 505 metric tons of hot mix and 329 metric tons of filling material were used to fill potholes at 76 locations, covering a total area of 5,170 square meters.

To ensure quality control, Municipal commissioner Shalini Agarwal visited the SMC-operated hot mix plants. These fully automated, computer-controlled plants produce over 500 metric tons of tar mixture daily, which is distributed across all nine municipal zones. The commissioner emphasised that maintaining the quality of repair work remains a top priority as the city works to rebuild its battered roads.