Chennai: Madras high court has directed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to consider positively and take further action on a representation to provide dedicated and separate entry booths and exclusive lanes for ambulances in tollgates and booths in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.
This is to ensure they efficiently discharge their duties in the hour of need instead of wasting time at toll gates since the issue pertains to saving the lives of innocent victims.
Disposing a Public Interest Litigation from advocate A.P. Suryaprakasam, a division bench comprising Justices R. Mahadevan and M. Govindaraj said, “Considering the submissions made by the counsel on either side, this court is of the opinion that the relief claimed in this petition is reasonable and therefore NHAI is directed to consider the representation of the petitioner positively and take further action within four weeks”.
Petitioner’s counsel K. Ashok Chakravarthy submitted that thousands of road accidents, mostly fatal, takes place on national and state highways, due to the bad driving, faulty design of roads, drivers driving the vehicles under the influence of liquor, rash and negligent driving etc., This is not only costing precious human lives but also makes the life of accident victims pathetic. Therefore, it was very essential to provide quick and immediate medical treatment within hours (which is called the golden hours by the doctors), he said.
The petitioner said he had noticed that there was no dedicated and separate lane for ambulances at toll gates, which results in such vehicles caught in traffic jam in such regular toll gates and booths wasting precious time. By the time they reach the accident spot, it becomes too late to provide medical aid to accident victims.
Therefore, the petitioner made representations dated June 1, 2016, and April 20, 2017 to NHAI to provide separate lanes for ambulances and other essential service vehicles at tollgates. But, there was no response, he added.
