The other day, one stumbled upon a strange-but-true-story of rat-catchers in the Indian capital of Delhi, who have not been able to lay hand on even a single rat in the last one decade. The last time these rat-catchers swung into action and did some real rat-catching was in 1994 - the year that saw outbreak of plague, claiming around 60 lives.



These highly-paid-lowly-performing lot works for the Delhi government’s Rat Surveillance Department or RSD, which itself is about a decade old. Each member of this 97-strong team is paid Rs. 3,500 ($77 approx.) for a job that have failed to perform for the last 10 years.



By the way, what could be the possible reason of their non-performance? Well, there can be three possible reasons: first, there are no rodents in the capital city; second, if they kill the rats, they might lose their jobs, therefore, it’s better to adopt the “live and let live” motto; and the last one, all rat-catchers have turned Lord Ganesha-lovers and that’s why, they don’t want to kill His favourite vehicle(s).



Going by the government officials’ version, Delhi doesn’t have any rodents, so there’s just no question to kill them. But as residents’ refute their contention as “a sheer lie”, we’ll also not subscribe to the theory. The second possibility also doesn’t hold much water, as these rat-killers would have caught at least some rats to justify their jobs. So, the last possibility seems to be the one closest to the truth. Now, whether they’re actually God-fearing is something we’ll leave for you to find out for yourself.



Besides, India is the land of Buddha, Mahavira and Gandhi. How can these enlightened rat-catchers take to the path of blatant violence! So simple. Huh!



Check Out: USA Today :: None for a Decade :: New Delhi Rat Race