In a unique protest, people of Punjab on Thursday marched towards the Gill flyover in Ludhiana with the statue of a rat and installed it. The protestors gave the rat a statue as the municipal corporation blamed the rodents for the collapse of the retaining wall. They have named the (strong) rat 'Pehlwan Chooha' (wrestler rat). Now the muscleman sits on the entry of the flyover eating a laddoo with a name board for himself.

The retaining wall of Gill flyover in Ludhiana collapsed on May 15 and fortunately, there were no fatalities. Ludhiana Municipal Corporation officials had visited the spot to inspect the wall to determine the cause of the collapse.

The flyover was constructed two years ago. The inquiry report dated June 14th reads, "The cause of failure of Reinforced Earth Retaining Wall is weakening of the geogrid net by rats."

As per some reports, it was Shiv Sena workers who held the protest and installed the statue of a rat. The Indian Express quoted Shiv Sena (Punjab) chief Rajiv Tandon as saying, "As a probe has found rats were the main culprits, we thought of honouring the rats who, according to our administration and government are so strong that they can make a flyover collapse. A group of engineers have claimed that the rats can’t damage the flyover wall. The contractor and corrupt system are responsible for it."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 28, 2018 11:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).