Environmentalist Sunita Narain discharged from hospital

Environmentalist Sunita Narain, critically injured when a speeding car hit her while she was riding a bicycle Oct 20, was Friday released from hospital after 11 days, a statement said.

"She (Narain) was discharged from the hospital Friday after 11 days. Her doctors said that she was recovering well and were upbeat about her condition," said the statement issued by NGO Centre for Science and Environment.

"She will get back to work very soon," it added.

Narain, 52, director of Centre for Science and Environment and a resident of Delhi's Green Park area, was cycling towards Lodhi Garden when a car hit her around 6 a.m. The car driver fled the spot and remains untraced.

Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where Narain was rushed, had to implant two titanium rods to support her shattered wrists. Her broken nose was also reconstructed.

Recounting the incident, Narain said: "The vehicle, which was in front of me, suddenly started reversing at great speed and hit me."

The Centre for Science and Environment said: "Cyclists in Indian cities are being edged out systematically to make way for cars - sometimes literally so."

"Narain and Centre for Science and Environment have been vocal supporters of people's right to walk and cycle on the roads of urban India," it said.

A 2005 Padma Shri awardee, Narain has also received the World Water Prize for work on rainwater harvesting and for its policy influence in building paradigms for community based water management.