It would be implemented by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and would cost around Rs 12 crore
The government will soon start its 'cashless treatment scheme' for accident victims on the major Delhi-Mumbai corridor.
The scheme would provide free treatment for the first 48 hours at hospitals located nearest to the accident site by bringing down the response time. It would be implemented by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and would cost around Rs 12 crore.
The scheme was earlier implemented as a pilot project on three national highway stretches, including Gurgaon-Jaipur and Mumbai-Vadodara stretches of NH-8 and Ranchi-Rargaon-Mahulia of NH 33 by the ministry of road, transport and highways, where victims did not have to pay for expenditure up to Rs 30,000. According to sources, around Rs 30 crore were disbursed under the scheme in the pilot projects.
According to senior officials, the NHAI would be inviting a request for proposal (RFP) under this scheme in a week. The government has plans of implementing the scheme across all national
highways of the country.
"During the earlier pilot projects, the ministry learnt that the awareness about the scheme was generally low. So publicising the scheme will be a priority during its implementation on the Delhi-Mumbai corridor," a senior official said.
This would include putting up posters about the scheme at regular intervals on the highway stretch and advertisements, sources said.
The scheme also has a provision of deploying GPS-fitted ambulances at every 25 km to shift accident victims to the nearest hospital at the earliest.
In the Gurgaon-Jaipur project, which was the first pilot project, the average response time of 20 minutes was pegged for the ambulance to reach the accident spot, and 20 minutes for the victim to be shifted to the nearest hospital.
As part of the road safety plan, a toll free highway helpline number 1033 has also been started for certain stretches of national highways.
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