Ludhiana, Sept. 11 -- The city's grim toll of road cave-ins reached 15 this year after a stretch near Sagoo Chowk in Krishna Nagar collapsed on Thursday. The road gave way after sewage from an illegal private sewer connection seeped into the ground and gradually eroded the soil beneath it, municipal corporation officials said.

According to MC commissioner Ojasvi Alankar, the cave-in occurred over an old road-gully chamber.

"An illegal sewer pipe from a nearby property was connected directly to the defunct chamber. With no outlet for the sewage, wastewater continuously seeped into the surrounding earth, washing away the subgrade soil and creating a cavity beneath the road. The resulting cavity, measuring around 4-5 feet in depth and widt...