The district administration of Gurugram directed the toll operators in Gurugram to provide all necessary services including emergency medical services, highway patrol units, operation and maintenance services for vehicles, dedicated lanes for emergency vehicles and toilets for commuters on the National Highway.
These directions came after a monthly meeting of the road safety committee chaired by the Deputy Commissioner Gurugram, Nishant Kumar Yadav on Wednesday in Gurugram. According to the district administration officials, with multiple ongoing constructions of highways across the country in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, the Indian Roads Congress 2013 has specified a list of emergency services to be provided by the private concessionaire to ensure the safety of citizens and the smooth flow of traffic. The following services are to be provided by the concessionaire at each toll plaza: Highway patrol units: The concessionaire is required to operate Highway Patrol Units to constantly patrol each stretch of 50 KMs of the highway. These units will be active 24x7 to help citizens in distress, clear obstructions on the highways, cordon off areas with obstructions and divert traffic. Each vehicle shall also contain protective equipment and traffic management such as gas cutters, fire extinguishers, gumboots, rubber gloves, first aid kits, signages for diversion of traffic, traffic cones and barricades. Emergency Medical Services: Each toll plaza will have a medical aid post set up by the concessionaire, along with ambulance (s) well equipped with first aid and emergency life support services. The ambulance should have at least two trained and certified paramedics (one paramedical staff and one trained nurse with knowledge of first aid) along with a trained driver so that the response time is not more than 20 minutes.
Crane services: The concessionaire shall also provide a crane of adequate capacity (minimum 20 MT) at each Toll Plaza location (s) with all necessary equipment so that it can reach site of incident within 30 minutes and clear the obstructions. Operation and Maintenance (O&M) centre: All concessionaires are required to establish an O&M centre at toll plaza or at any other location along project highway, the land for which will be acquired by the concessionaire. This centre shall house the main control room, storage space for equipment, parking space for crane and other big vehicles, and a general garage.
The guidelines also state that all vehicles deployed by the concessionaire for emergency services shall be equipped with a GPS based Vehicle Tracking System so that it can be integrated with the 112 Emergency Response System.
The District Road Safety Committee, Gurugram discussed all aforementioned provisions in detail. During the meeting, the Deputy Commissioner directed all Sub Divisional Magistrates (SDM) to meet the concessionaires of toll plazas in their respective jurisdictions to ensure that all notified emergency services are provided at all toll plazas 24 x 7, and these services adhere to the notified quality standards.