The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) late on Saturday night started filling potholes at the site where star cricketer Rishabh Pant’s car met with a severe accident two days ago in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar district, but left it unfinished due to a traffic jam on the highway, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
A senior NHAI official, however, said they had only carried some “patchwork to smoothen the road”.
The late-night development came hours after Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) director Shyam Sharma, who met the 25-year-old cricketer at Max Hospital in Dehradun, told reporters that Pant told him he was “trying to avoid a pothole” when he met with the accident on Friday morning.
A team from NHAI inspected the stretch of the National Highway-58 that connects Delhi with Haridwar on Saturday afternoon when a group of local residents protested against the poor condition of the road, one of the people cited above said.
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who met Pant at the hospital on Sunday, said: “The cricketer told me that he saw a pothole-like depression and something black while driving following which he lost the balance.”
“His health has seen much improvement in the last two days. BCCI officials are in constant touch with doctors of the hospital. I have spoken to doctors. According to them, his health would see more improvement in a day or two,” said Dhami. “His mother and family are satisfied with the treatment. We all are praying for his speedy recovery. We would ensure he gets the best possible treatment.”
NHAI project director (Roorkee) PS Gusain, however, claimed there were no potholes on the stretch and that they only did some patchwork to smoothen the road. “What the cricketer is addressing as a pothole could just be a ripple on the road,” said Gusain.
He added that a canal running along the highway encroaches the road, decreasing its width near the accident site.
“There were no potholes on Narsan and Mangalore stretch of the Delhi-Haridwar highway but road undulations, and our team only carried out patchwork to smoothen the road,” Gusain told HT. “The road width decreases near the accident site due to a canal passing along the road encroaching on it. We have been taking up the matter with the irrigation department to address the issue. We requested the irrigation department to shift the canal but their officials said there is private land all around and that’s why it’s not possible. We also sent letters to the district administration for shifting of the canal so that we can widen the portion of the highway.”
PS Panwar, chief engineer of the irrigation department, Haridwar, said, “We have told NHAI that they can shift the canal after getting a non-objection certification from us.”
Arvind Rathi, general secretary of Bharatiya Kisam Union (BKU-Tikait), said, “We have been requesting the NHAI and local administration to repair the damaged road and fill potholes which have claimed many lives in the past year. The NHAI swung into action on a foggy night after a high-profile accident. Do our lives not matter?”
“They left the repair work after it resulted in a traffic jam due to the narrow way available for the traffic on the busy highway. Some people in an inebriated state had entered into an argument with the NHAI workers and were subsequently picked up by the police,” said Rathi.
The 25-year-old cricketer, who had a miraculous escape, suffered injuries on his forehead and right knee and abrasions on the back. He was rescued by the driver and conductor of a Haryana Roadways bus.
On Sunday, chief minister Dhami announced that his government will honour the driver-conductor duo.
“Not worrying about themselves, the driver-conductor duo of Haryana Roadways saved the life of the cricketer. We have decided to honour them on the Republic Day event,” he added.
Earlier, Uttarakhand police had announced to reward the driver-conductor duo under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways ‘Good Samaritans’ scheme.
