A portion of a road near Arya School Road, close to Sabzi Mandi, caved in on Thursday morning, posing a serious risk to commuters during peak hours.
Municipal corporation officials said the cave-in was triggered by the collapse of a manhole wall beneath the road, which had been weakened by rat burrows.
“When we inspected the spot, we found that rats had made holes in the wall, leading to its collapse and the road caving in above that section,” said junior engineer Himanshu Sharma, who supervised the repair work.
“The damaged wall has been repaired and the cavity temporarily covered. We removed the lintel and fixed the wall. The hole has been covered for now and will be sealed with asphalt on Friday,” he added.
The road has seven manholes and following the incident, the operations and maintenance wing of the civic body conducted camera inspections of the remaining six. Officials said no burrows or signs of infestation were found in them.
According to officials, the affected manhole was located close to a dhaba, which likely attracted rodents. “Rats are commonly found near eateries, but we did not find burrows in any of the other manholes,” Sharma said.
Notably, the caved-in stretch remained unattended for some time even as traffic continued to pass through, increasing the likelihood of an accident. Officials said reflective barriers will be installed to secure the area.
{{/usCountry}}Notably, the caved-in stretch remained unattended for some time even as traffic continued to pass through, increasing the likelihood of an accident. Officials said reflective barriers will be installed to secure the area.
{{/usCountry}}In a similar incident in 2018, a major accident occurred in the city when the retaining wall of the Gill Road flyover collapsed due to rat burrows in the earth filling.