A section of a nearly 75-year-old overbridge in Indore has collapsed with a member of the civic corporation's mayoral council blaming rat infestation for the cave in, a claim junked by civil engineering experts who said it was caused by lack of maintenance and traffic surge.
Officials said a section of the Shastri Bridge, located on a busy road in the Madhya Pradesh city, collapsed on Sunday (November 2, 2025), creating a five-by-seven-foot hole.
They said following the incident, the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) has started fixing the cavity and was also carrying out additional structural repair work on the bridge.
Rajendra Rathore, in-charge of the Public Works Department in the IMC's Mayor-in-Council, told PTI on Tuesday, "There is no structural defect in the Shastri Bridge. However, there is a menace of rats on this bridge. Large rats have dug numerous burrows near the footpath, hollowing out the bridge. This caused a section of the bridge to sink."
Mr. Rathore noted that to combat the rat infestation, the footpath of the Shastri Bridge is being reinforced with a new layer of cement-concrete, and citizens have been advised not to give food or drinks to needy people sitting on the structure as these items attract rodents.
