Part of 75-year-old overbridge collapses in Indore; municipal corporation blames rats

Indore, Nov 4 (PTI) 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, 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." 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.

The repair work on the bridge has been sanctioned at a cost of Rs 40 lakh, he informed.

Officials said the repair work is being carried out according to standards of the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) and based on recommendations of civil engineering experts from the city's Shri GS Institute of Technology and Science (SGSITS).

SGSITS is a government-aided autonomous institution.

One of these experts, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "The sinking of a section of the Shastri Bridge is a wake up call. The traffic pressure on the bridge is constantly increasing, and this incident is a result of inadequate maintenance. Rats alone could not have caused such a large cavity in the bridge, and this incident is a consequence of structural distress." According to standards, every bridge older than 25 years should undergo regular testing of its strength and load-bearing capacity to eliminate the possibility of accidents, he suggested. PTI HWP MAS RSY