A sinkhole on a national highway swallowed 50 boulders without filling up, and two government departments spent three days arguing over whose road it was while villagers used a flag on a stick as the entire safety infrastructure.
A tunnel-deep sinkhole opened up on NH-39 in Amblai village, Sidhi district, Madhya Pradesh — wide enough to swallow vehicles and apparently hungry enough to consume 50 large boulders thrown in by desperate villagers without any visible effect. Three accidents occurred and five people were injured over two days. When asked to intervene, PWD officer Kaushal Parte delivered the immortal bureaucratic defense: since his department did not build the road, it cannot repair the road. The villagers, having exhausted their boulder supply and their faith in governance, covered the abyss with cloth and erected a hand-made flag on a wooden stick — which briefly served as the entire safety apparatus protecting highway users on a national highway. The CM eventually removed the Sidhi Collector, presumably for failing to argue jurisdiction fast enough.