The third-industrial revolution, which is led by Information technologies, is unfolding the advantages of technology day on day. It is reflected in the rise of IT-enabled devices ranging from mobiles to AI-powered robots. Countries across the world are batting for various technologies to fight problems and fix issues.
The Government of India (GoI) realised the potential of IT long back. In the recent years, it has started a flagship program named ‘Digital India’ to revolutionise the governance with e-governance initiatives and schemes. Accordingly, GOI also encouraged its ministries and departments to come up with tech-based solutions to combat progress-dragging problems. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has already joined the race of adopting technologies to create commuter-friendly roadways/highways.
The National Highways Authority of India, which is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, isn’t turning a blind eye to the advanced technologies to deal with the maintenance and operational challenges. It embraced tech-based processes to curtail corruption and avail advantages of e-governance.
Here are some of the tech-led and tech-based reforms imbibed by the NHAI in its processes and operations.
FASTag
Also known as Electronic Toll Collection and e-tolling, this system can be said as a revolutionary initiative in the history of NHAI. Through this system, the NHAI’s vision of delivering seamless travel experience is realising at a faster pace.
FASTag is a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag that has to be mounted on the vehicle’s windscreen to enable the RFID sensors at Toll Plazas to detect the vehicle and deduct the Toll without human intervention. This system helps commuters bypass congestion at Toll Plazas thus cutting the travel cost as well time.
Hi-tech monitoring/planning
To meet the expected deadlines in executing the developmental works, the NHAI is pulling Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) technologies to its fold. Through such technologies, NHAI aims to pave way for accountability in its projects.
The NHAI also inked a pact with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to make use of spatial data in its Road Assets Management System (RAMS) project through which the data revolving around the Highways can be put to use for better purposes.
The listed initiatives/reforms are just a few examples that reflect the commitment of NHAI in addressing the problems and optimizing the resources using different technologies.
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