Plans On To Build 10m High Embankment Wall Along Tapi Surat: The irrigation department will be building a nine-km long embankment on the right side of Tapi river. It will be based on a study conducted by Gujarat Engineering Research Institute (GERI). The Central Design Organization (CDO), Gandhinagar is giving final touches to the design of the embankment which seeks to protect people of Adajan-Rander-Pal from floods upon release of water up to 600,000 cusecs from Ukai dam. The 9.73 to 10.73 metre high embankment from Chow Bazaar Nehru Bridge to ONGC Bridge at Magalia will be 600mm wide. Plane and existing structures protect the city on the other side of Athwalines when ever water in huge quantity is released from the dam. Surat is safe till release of 300,000 cusecs of water from Ukai dam. But if the quantity of water is increased to 400,000 cusecs, many low-lying areas on the right side of the river at Rander, Adajan and Pal get flooded. The idea of embankment was first floated in 2006. Since then water over 250,000 cusecs was released from Ukai this year for the first time. This also saw the administration waking up to the need to have an embankment. “We are going to follow GERI’s study model. It has fixed the review levels at different spots and the embankment would be built accordingly. The land at Bhatha-Bhatpore is in our possession. Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) will provide us the remaining land. We can start the construct immediately,” said G B Kanani, executive engineer, irrigation circle, Surat. “The river bank is very narrow on the Swaminarayan Temple side at Adajan and we will have to make space for the embankment from the existing road. At many places the land next to the river belongs to private owners,” said Jatin Shah, city engineer, SMC.