Booths to call helplines for Agra-Lucknow e-way

Kanpur: The 302-km-long Agra-Lucknow Expressway will soon have emergency phone booths to dial dedicated help numbers during an emergency. These booths will also have GPS devices to locate the site from where a call is being made.
“Emergency telephone booths will come up every 5 kms along the 302-km route,” said Shivendra Srivastava, a senior officer of the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA).
“The booths will have GPS gadgets so as to locate the site from where the call is being made. The service will be totally free of cost. It’s a step ahead to make the expressway fully hi-tech and reduce the response time in case of accidents,” he said and added that the work on the booths has already started and will be completed in a time-bound manner.
“In case of an emergency, all you will have to do is to rush to the telephone booth and after pressing the required numbers, you will be connected to the UP 100 police number, 108 ambulance service and 18001233127/128 UPEIDA control room numbers. You ask for help and it will be available in minutes. However, except these, any other number could not be called from the booths,” he added.
He informed TOI that nearly 60 such booths will come up on the expressway at regular intervals of five kilometres.
“These booths would be run by solar panel system with a backup battery and with the help of optical fibre cables.”
A UPEIDA control room operator told TOI that on an average they receive 10 to 15 calls daily. “Majority of these calls are related to minor/major vehicle breakdowns, besides accidents,” he added.
The expressway connects Agra and Lucknow via Shikohabad, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur, Kannauj and Unnao. It starts at Etmadpur Madra village near Agra and ends at Sarosa Bharosa village near Mohan Road, Lucknow.