Typhoid outbreak unravels Gandhinagar infra cracks

Leakages in water and sewage pipelines have been reported from at least 20 spots in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar, where a recent typhoid outbreak triggered a major health concern, with civic authorities trying to ascertain which of these leakages resulted in water contamination leading to the bacterial infection outbreak, a senior government official said.

Cases of typhoid, a water-borne disease, were reported mostly from Sectors 24, 28 and Adivada areas of the state’s capital city, however, no fatalities have been reported.

“Till Monday (January 5), 133 people had been detected with typhoid. Of these, 30 have been discharged on January 5 and 15 were discharged on January 4, so there would be about 88 active cases. There have been no fatalities so far. We are seeing a downward trend in the number of cases and the situation is under control,” Rajeev Topno, additional chief secretary, health.

On January 6, chief minister Bhupendra Patel chaired a high-level meeting to review the situation and directed officials to intensify the joint measures being carried out by the municipal corporation and the state health department for patient treatment, disease control, and prevention in view of the typhoid outbreak in Gandhinagar, a government release said.

“There were about 20 leakage points and all have been restored,” Gandhinagar municipal commissioner JN Vaghela said.

Another official, requesting anonymity, said that some of the older sewage and water lines were laid around 30 to 35 years ago and that the entire network has been undergoing revamp for the past three years. Encroachments in several areas, including Sector 24 and Adivada, have added to the problem, with residents having installed private water connections and laid pipelines close to sewage points, the official added.

The official pointed out that two new water supply stations —at Charadi near Pethapur and at Sarita Udhyan near Gandhinagar — were commissioned as part of the 24-hour water supply project. Water from these stations is being released in a staggered manner with increasing pressure, starting with smaller volumes and gradually scaling up. “This increase in pressure has emerged as a key issue, particularly in newer sectors, where weak joints and recent connections have been more vulnerable to leakage,” the official said.

Over the last few weeks, several state governments have issued directions to check water and sewage pipelines in the aftermath of reports of multiple fatalities in Bhagurathpura area in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore due to water contamination.

The typhoid outbreak has raised questions over the civic infrastructure of Gandhinagar, a city planned in the 1960s and often compared to Chandigarh for its sector-based design. The city became the state capital in 1970.

“This outbreak reflects a failure of coordination in underground infrastructure planning. When water lines, sewage and other networks are executed in silos without a unified map and sequencing, contamination risks become inevitable, even in a planned city like Gandhinagar,” an urban planner associated with public infrastructure projects in Gujarat said, declining to be named.

Over the last three years, roads were dug up repeatedly—first for drainage, then water pipelines, then gas lines and optical fibre cables—each time by different contractors.

“There are different agencies for different works. A few months ago, our sector looked like a remote place after heavy rain, with the ground muddy and full of filth. It was due to constant water leakage and repeated digging in the area,” a resident of Sector 23 said.

The concerns have intensified with the ongoing 24-hour water supply project and water metering project. “Earlier we used to get water for two hours in the morning and evening. Now, after this project has started, we are getting water that at times is not potable and we have to boil it before drinking,” Yash Solanki, a resident of Sector 21, said.

The infrastructure challenges seem to trace back to 2014, when Gandhinagar transitioned from being run by the Capital Project—a team of engineers under the roads and buildings department—to becoming a municipal corporation. Responsibilities were divided between departments, leading to what residents describe as haphazard growth.

“Earlier, water and sewage lines were kept separate by a considerable distance as there were no space constraints. After the formation of the corporation, the city witnessed haphazard growth. While the city expanded, there was no corresponding increase in basic infrastructure. What we see today is the result of urbanisation and unplanned development, where contractors and corporators are reshaping the city,” said a retired government official and resident of Sector 24, one of the hotspots of the recent typhoid outbreak.

A civic official, requesting anonymity, said that in recent years, the Gandhinagar municipal corporation has been replacing old cement and ceramic sewage lines with PVC pipes, an exercise still underway in several sectors.

“In several cases, this is being done by burying old connections under cement and laying new ones closer to water pipelines due to space constraints,” the official added.

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognisance of the typhoid outbreak and sought a detailed report from the Gujarat chief secretary within two weeks.

The Union Ministry of Jal Shakti’s Functionality Assessment of Household Tap Connections State Report–2024 shows that 47.3% of households in Gujarat received quality tap water in 2024, compared to the national average of 76%. In Gandhinagar, only 31.9% of households received potable drinking water through tap connections, as per this report.