E-Paper
‘Mahamarg Suraksha Dal’ to help highway police during emergencies on e-way
In a bid to improve road safety on the Mumbai-Pune expressway and seek help from local villagers during emergency situations, the Highway State Police (HSP), Pune division, have begun forming “Mahamarg Suraksha Dal” committees
In a bid to improve road safety on the Mumbai-Pune expressway and seek help from local villagers during emergency situations, the Highway State Police (HSP), Pune division, have begun forming “Mahamarg Suraksha Dal” committees.
The initiative is being undertaken by the HSP Pune division under the guidance of Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay, additional director general of police (traffic) Maharashtra.
In order to form the Mahamarg Suraksha Dal, prominent persons from villages near the e-way are chosen. From sarpanch, school principals to college students, members are selected and trained to serve on the committee. The training consists of things to do during an emergency and ways to help the highway police.
According to Sanjay Jadhav, superintendent of police, Highway State Police (HSP), Pune, the focus in 2021 is on public awareness and improving the safety of expressway with the contribution of local villagers around the e-way.
“We have introduced a new scheme for it, under which we have identified villages on both sides of the expressway. In each of the village, a committee is formed named as ‘Mahamarg Suraksha Dal’. This committee will have five to 10 prominent people from the village like the sarpanch, school and college principals, student representative, youth, medical professionals, prominent women from the village, vehicle garage and roadside dhaba owners and other such people will be part of this committee. This idea of forming such committees was given by our ADGP Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay and we are now implementing it,” Jadhav said.
Jadhav added that once the committees are formed in all villages on both the sides of the expressway, awareness programmes will be undertaken in each village.
The awareness programmes will elaborate on following traffic rules such as not riding triple seat on a bike, avoiding unauthorised entry on the e-way, the harms of drink and drive, driving on the wrong side, and the compulsion of helmets.
“Currently, almost in all the villages these committees are being formed and from our department, each police constable is given the responsibility of a village to focus on. A Whatsapp mobile group will be formed for each village for better communication. So,having continuous dialogue with these local villagers who are part of the committee, we are getting immediate information about accidents or any emergency situation on the highway,” added Jadhav.
The committee members will also be trained for first aid and what to do to help accident victims on the highway.
“Generally, what happens is that when an accident occurs on the e-way, nearby villagers pull out victims from the vehicle in an untrained fashion. Some victims are given water to drink which causes more damage. However, if proper training about first aid and medical help is given, it will benefit the accident victims. With the help of Lokmanya hospital, we have plans to give such type of training to these committee members in a phase-wise manner,” said Jadhav.
Through this committee, the HSP police will also, try to interact with the gram panchayat or local civic bodies of the village to undertake necessary infrastructure work on the roads connecting to the highway. For example, speed breakers, signage boards and signals on roads connecting to the e-way.
