Tyre killers cause peak-hour chaos, removed within hours

Ahmedabad: The civic body has faced yet another failure with tyre killers. This time, officials from Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s (AMC) North-West Zone had to themselves remove the speed barriers they had laid on Monday morning, within a couple of hours.

The reason: The tyre killers, laid on the road from Baghban Circle to Shilaj village, became more of a hurdle, causing massive jams in peak-hour traffic. Sources said protests by commuters led officials to remove the barriers, which are normally aimed at preventing people from driving on the wrong side. The sources added that tyre killers are mostly installed on service roads. Neither the deputy municipal commissioner nor the additional city engineer offered any explanation over their sudden installation on a main thoroughfare and the prompt removal.AMC had first experimented with tyre killers in Aug 2023 and had installed three — in Ghatlodia, Naranpura and Bodakdev — for Rs 17.43 lakh. Some individuals broke them by placing stones on them. After these, it decided to install tyre killers of a new design at 18 locations, and invited tenders twice. There were no bidders.