As a tribute to women on upcoming Women’s day, NHAI aspires to have an all women toll plaza

New Delhi, March 4: Women’s Day is just few days away and the preparations have already begun. This time it’s the NHAI, which is all set to set an example for women empowerment by deploying all women toll staff on International Women’s Day. The national body has decided to appoint lady toll collectors in a day shift on at least one toll plaza close to a city area in every state and Union Territory on March 8.

According to the Ministry of Highways if this initiative works out then the authority has decided to implement it across all toll plazas under operation by NHAI within the next 3 months. The NHAI aspires to improve the condition of toll plazas and nurture a competitive environment and is ranking toll plazas based on various parameters, such as ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) adaptability, the condition of the ETC infrastructure, and time taken in passing through the toll using the FASTag lane.

Along with this, NHAI is adopting a swing of other measures, like deployment of Road Marshals, putting sign boards, general cleanliness, and neat gender-based toilets. It is also constructing a short duration parking, called Nest (Mini), at toll plazas, which will have litter bins, toilets, water booths, ATMs, and coffee or tea kiosks, as well as provision for pre-packaged food items, etc.

While all these measures are great for highway travellers, the toll attendants need facilities as well. In this regard it is also necessary that the toll attendants also get equal facilities. People are not ignorant of the hapless toll attendants being misbehaved or abused by drivers or occupants of vehicles passing through the toll plazas. This might happen for the simplest reasons at times with the reason of unwillingness of the driver to pay toll.

Therefore this is a great move taken by the authority to create a change and also a positive move towards women employment and the best gift to women on their women’s day.