How NHAI's Sukhad Yatra is Making Highways Easier

1. How NHAI's Sukhad Yatra is Making Highways Easier Sukhad Yatra, a highway-utility mobile application from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), was launched as a step further towards the realisation of the Central government’s drive to integrate technology in and digitalise the highways sector. The mobile application – launched on March 7, 2018 – serves the purpose of increasing safety in, bringing transparency to, and supporting the development of Highways through the direct involvement of its key stakeholder– the commuter. The highway-utility application is a part of the Centre’s bid to modernise India’s highway infrastructure, which is a cluster project comprised of several other subprojects such as Wayside Amenities and Electronic Toll Collection. Sukhad Yatra aids both WSA and ETC with its in-built tools. These tools cover one or more aspects of both the projects, such as buying FASTags and locating civic amenities on or near highways. Nearby Toll Plaza, Toll Plaza Enroute, Buy FASTag, Know Your Highway, Near By, Report An Issue, Report Summary, and Rate Us are a few of the built-in features the GPS-powered Sukhad Yatra app offers. The Central government had earlier initiated a constellation project for the modernisation of highways, and later handed over it to the National Highways Authority of India. WSA, ETC, and Incident Management System (of Advanced Traffic Management System) are a few among the several sub projects. WSA consists of Highway Village, the Highway Nest, and the Highway Nest (Mini). The Nests are already built and functional at various Toll plazas on national highways. These provide commuters with a safe halting point along with several advanced civic amenities. ETC automatically debits Toll taxes at dedicated lanes on highways by connecting with RFID-encoded FASTag stickers linked to the bank account of the user. This eliminates the need for paperwork, halting, and manpower. Circling back to the subject, Sukhad Yatra has Buy FASTag feature to download and recharge FASTags, which are in turn used for paying toll fees at ETC lanes. The app also has several tools that can track the coordinates of the nearest amenities, including those available at WSAs, and guide the user to the right route. The highways application also provides users with a feedback mechanism with features such as Report an Issue, Report Summary, and Rate Us. These allow motorists to register their grievances against any highway Toll authority or service. Complaints registered via Report an Issue are stored in a central database and addressed. The feedback system also allows users to rate the appin order to help its developers improve the service. This improves transparency and increases vigilance against fraudulent practices –another key step in the government’s Digital India drive. The redressal mechanism also allows motorists to report dilapidated roads and damaged highway infrastructure. The highway utilities application was downloaded more than 40,000 times in the first week of its launch, and, according to the government, continues to grow. Sukhad Yatra is an important part of the Union government’s Digital India and highway modernisation undertakings. The application is accelerating the government’s ongoing highway infrastructure modernisation projects. #SukhadYatra #FASTag #TollPlaza