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Watch: Congress leader Harish Rawat stages a sit-in to protest potholed highway in Uttarakhand
The former chief minister said the non-completion of National Highway 109 near and and potholes across the entire stretch were leading to accidents and deaths.
Senior Congress leader Harish Rawat on Thursday staged a nearly hour-long sit-in on the national highway in Haldwani to protest the condition of the road that he said was claiming lives of a number of people as the government remained a mute spectator.
The former chief minister said the non-completion of National Highway 109 near and and potholes across the entire stretch were leading to accidents and deaths.
A video shared by news agency ANI showed Rawat urging the BJP-led government in the hill state and the Centre to look into the issue. “Accidents are happening every day and people are losing their lives,” he said. He further said construction of the highway was yet to be completed even after years, but “the government has nothing to do with it”. Rawat also promised to continue his protests over such issues in future too.
According to a report in Live Hindustan, the Congress veteran was passing through the highway while on his way to Haridwar after campaigning for the Champawat by-election. He stopped his convoy on the national highway Motahaldu and began a sit-in.
The Champawat by-election is scheduled to be held on May 31. Rawat has been aggressively campaigning for the bypolls for which the Congress has fielded Nirmala Gehtori as its candidate.
Earlier, addressing a gathering, Rawat said the Congress will give a "tough fight" to the BJP in the election.
In the recently concluded Assembly election, the Congress that was hoping to make a comeback under Rawat's leadership managed to win only 19 of the 70 seats, while the BJP came back to power with 47 constituencies in its kitty.
