NHAI starts repair work at Rishabh Pant accident site

The National Highways Authority of India 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. The late-night development came hours after Delhi and District Cricket Association 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. 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. 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, 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.