When Bridges Tumble: The Curious Case of Indore's Overpass and the Unlikely Culprits

It was late Friday night, well past 11 o'clock, when a section of Indore's venerable Gandhi Nagar overbridge, a structure that had stood tall for a remarkable 75 years, simply gave way. A jarring collapse, honestly, that sent a truck careening downwards, thankfully resulting in only minor injuries for its driver. But here’s where the story takes a turn, a truly perplexing one, that has many scratching their heads across Madhya Pradesh, and indeed, beyond.

You see, while the immediate concern was, of course, the safety of those involved and the traffic disruption, the municipal corporation quickly offered an explanation for the bridge's sudden demise. And it wasn't what you might expect. Not faulty design, not material fatigue, not even a lapse in maintenance, per se. No, the official word points to... rats. Yes, rodents. Those furry, scurrying creatures, allegedly gnawing their way through the bridge's very foundations, leading to its catastrophic failure.

Now, I ask you, can a 75-year-old overbridge, a piece of infrastructure built way back in 1949, really succumb to the dental prowess of a colony of rats? It's a question that naturally invites a fair bit of skepticism, and perhaps a touch of incredulity. While rats are undoubtedly persistent, and capable of damage, pinning the collapse of a major urban artery solely on their shoulders feels, well, a little too convenient, doesn't it?

The incident itself saw a truck, navigating the bridge around 11:30 PM on March 22nd, drop into the void created by the collapse. Fortunately, the driver, displaying remarkable presence of mind or perhaps just plain luck, managed to escape with what are reported as minor injuries. A relief, truly, considering the potential gravity of such an event.

And so, as an inquiry is now underway, and traffic is diverted, the citizens of Indore, and many others, are left pondering this rather unique narrative. Is it a testament to the unforeseen power of nature, even in its smallest forms? Or, and you could say this is the more uncomfortable truth, does it perhaps highlight deeper, more systemic issues concerning the inspection and upkeep of aging public infrastructure? For once, maybe, the rats are just a distraction. A convenient, albeit unbelievable, scapegoat in a much larger story about how we maintain the very structures that hold our cities together.