Times
of India: Gurgaon: Monday, 11 August 2014.
The National
Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has not received any SOS from distressed
commuters in the last one year, as the service has remained defunct for a long
time.
The SOS
service refers to phone booths installed at a distance of every one kilometer
on the 27.7 km long Expressway. It is meant for commuters to seek help when in
trouble, for instance during a car breakdown or sudden illness.
In the first
five months this year, 28 people lost their lives and 72 got injured in road
accidents, but nobody could use the SOS service. Though NHAI has deployed
cranes and ambulances at several accident prone areas, such services are used
primarily to ease traffic jams caused by an accident.
The
information about defunct SOS service was revealed in a reply to an RTI query
filed by a city-resident. "The service has been non-functional for more
than a year. Last year also, the NHAI admitted that no SOS complaint had been
received. It shows the vulnerability of expressway," said Aseem Takyar,
the RTI activist.
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