A sinkhole on a national highway swallowed 50 boulders without filling up, injured 5 people in 3 accidents over 2 days, and the PWD response was: "We didn't build this road." The villagers put up their own warning flags while two departments argued over whose void it was.
A tunnel-deep sinkhole appeared on National Highway 39 near Amblai village in Sidhi district, Madhya Pradesh, and proceeded to devour over 50 large boulders thrown in by desperate villagers — without showing any signs of filling. Over 48 hours, three separate accidents occurred, hospitalizing five people including two motorcycle riders who rode straight into it at night. No barricades. No hazard lights. No repair crews. Just villagers planting cloth flags as makeshift warnings. When asked, PWD Officer Kaushal Parte delivered the bureaucratic chef's kiss: the road wasn't built by PWD, so PWD can't intervene. Additional Collector BP Pandey promised repairs 'soon' — a word that in Indian governance means 'after the next election cycle.'