Govt mulls cess on highways for accident victims to get prompt medical care

New Delhi: The Ministry of Civil Aviation is looking to partner with the National Highways Authority of India or NHAI to promote medical evacuation facilities on highways through helicopters. Aviation secretary RN Choubey said today that talks are on between the two entities and that NHAI will have to find a way to fund the evacuations of highway accident victims through choppers.[caption id=“attachment_2457518” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Chopper for medical evacuation on highways soon? Getty Images[/caption] Separately, a person close to developments said there could be a cess of a “rupee or two” for commuters using highways by adding this amount to the toll. He said the money thus collected could be used to provide quick medical aid to accident victims on national highways. The idea of using choppers for medical evacuation along highways forms part of the ministry’s endeavours to promote the use of helicopters for commercial and other purposes in the country. Here’s a statistic which indicates the the number of helicopters has hardly grown in the last few years as cumbersome clearance procedures and lack of commercial avenues are stifling the growth of this industry: In January 2012, there were 257 choppers registered with the DGCA. This number has increased to only 280 till yesterday! This, when there is increased emphasis on regional connectivity within India of late. And choppers are ideal modes of air transport for covering distances less than 300-400 nautical miles. They are also suited for religious tourism, in disaster response situations and even when we are faced with law and order issues. Estimates by global aviation consultancy CAPA suggest that in the next decade or two, the country can add 600 odd helicopters, provided the policy environment is conducive to their commercial usage. Choubey said today “we are aware that the helicopter segment has so far received a step motherly treatment from the Government. India’s chopper fleet is just a 10th of that in Brazil though sizewise and in terms of economic activity, the two countries are comparable. Some of this lack of growth may be due to policy prescriptions. We will deal with this aspect in the upcoming Draft Civil Aviation Policy”. DGCA M Sathivathy acknowledged that some fault lies with the regulator since clearances and licenses to helicopter operators were getting delayed. She promised this process will be fixed soon.