Call centre for accident aid

Round-the-clock and multilingual, service to be active by October

With the country attaining the dubious distinction of having the highest number of fatal accidents in the world, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided to set up a dedicated call centre to provide aid to victims. The call centre will act as a medium between medical authorities and highway users.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has invited a tender from companies to run the call centre and give an all India common number. The round-the-clock call centre will have a capacity of 50 seats and people knowing different languages will man it. The government plans to start the operation of the call centre by October this year, a senior official from the Ministry told Deccan Herald.

If an accident occurs, the caller can call the centre giving details of location of the accidents. Immediately, the call centre will alert the nearest police station or hospital to send ambulance and other assistance to victims.
“People can lodge complaints on a whole range of issues including poor maintenance, traffic jams and any irregularity. The complaints will be passed on to the official concerned for compliance,” said an official.

To ensure that complaints are addressed, a status report of every three months will be uploaded on the NHAI web site. “The complaints recorded will be stored for three months to ensure that officials concerned take necessary steps,” sources said.
 According to latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau, over 1.14 lakh people lost their lives on the national highways in 2007, against 1.05 lakh in 2006. Major victims of fatal road accidents were two-wheeler users, pedestrians and cyclists.
The government has already introduced a Bill in the just- concluded budget session of Parliament to set up the National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board for improving safety provisions on the national highways.
DH News Service