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17-km green corridor created to ferry critical Covid patient to Ludhiana airport
With time being of the essence, the traffic police cleared the 17-km route between the hospital and airport and provided police escort to the ambulance so that the 30-minute journey took only 15 minutes; as per the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, a driver can be fined ₹10,000 for not giving way to emergency vehicles such as ambulances and fire brigades
A green corridor was created between the Hero DMC Heart Institute and the Sahnewal Airport, within 30 minutes of intimation, to ferry a critical Covid patient who was to be airlifted to Hyderabad for specialised treatment on Saturday.
With time being of the essence, the traffic police cleared the 17-km route between the hospital and airport and provided police escort to the ambulance so that the 30-minute journey took only 15 minutes, said assistant commissioner of police (ACP, traffic) Gurdev Singh.
The lungs of the patient, Vipul Jindal, 39, of Tagore Nagar, a businessman, had been severely damaged after he contracted Covid, following which his family arranged an air ambulance to ferry him to a hospital in Hyderabad.
“Soon after receiving directions from commissioner of police Rakesh Agrawal we cleared the roads within 30 minutes. It was a challenge to bring the ambulance to the main road from the narrow roads of the city. An escort vehicle in front of the ambulance cleared the roads. The vehicles sped at 100km/hr and reached the airport within 15 minutes,” Jindal said.
Motorists to be sensitised
The traffic police will initiate a special drive in the city next week to sensitise people about the importance of providing passage to emergency vehicles such as ambulances, fire brigades and police vehicles .
The ACP said, “It has been observed that some people do not give way to emergency vehicles, which causes delay in reaching the destination for rescue proceedings. If people are sensitised, we will not need to create green corridors for shifting patients.”
As per the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, a driver can be fined ₹10,000 for not giving way to emergency vehicles such as ambulances and fire brigades.
On June 12, the traffic police had created a green corridor to clear the path for an accident victim, who had been referred to a private hospital in Ludhiana from Faridkot. Police had helped the ambulance reach Satguru Partap Singh Hospital, Sherpur Chowk, from Baddowal (32 km) in just 12 minutes and on May 22, a green corridor was created for a Covid patient who was being shifted to a local hospital from Jalandhar.
