The Yogi Adityanath government has decided to deploy ‘UP-112′ emergency service police personnel on the state highways and expressways to ensure security and cooperation to passengers passing through the state.

Besides the security and assistance, the policemen of the 112 services will also be giving information related to routes, refreshments, hotels, hospitals and other essential facilities to travellers. UP-112 is the official name of the Uttar Pradesh Police Emergency Management System.

The decision is designed to serve as a life saver for passengers, who get injured in road accidents. The 112 police personnel will not only reach the spot in a blink but will also help to take the injured to the nearest hospital.

Besides reducing the response time, the new initiative will also assist in reducing road accidents to a large extent.

Asim Arun, Additional Director General (112), said that besides these services, the personnel of 112 will also identify and penalize those passengers who are involved in over speeding and flaunting traffic rules.

“They will also check unnecessary stoppages on highways which are also a cause of accidents. During foggy conditions, such activities also add to the fatalities and the deployment of 112 will come handy to prevent them. Besides this, some hospitals also are being listed to deal with emergency situations,” he said.

The policemen will also be regularly removing vehicles that are unsafely parked on the roads.

“Our cops will also be removing illegal fencings that have been done at places to erect unsafe local bylanes. Besides, removal of illegal hotels and shops will also be on our priority for a better, smoother and safer traffic movement”, added Arun.

High quality reflective stickers have been put on all the Police Response Vehicles (PRVs) of the 112 service for visibility from a distance and the policemen have also been provided with high visibility jackets.

The PRVs will also be connected with the control room of the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) for better coordination, he said.

“In the first phase of the exercise, 18 PRVs of 112 have been deployed on the Lucknow- Agra Expressway. Once the trial is successful, the 112 PRVs will be further deployed on the Yamuna Expressway. Besides this, the state government will be deploying 112 PRVs on all of its state highways,” Asim Arun said.

The initiative, he said, will also make the police easily accessible to the rural areas. “People living in the rural areas alongside expressways and highways will also benefit from the initiative as the cops will be easily approachable for them”, explained Arun.

The decision of the state government will also serve as a booster for tourism in the state as according to the statistics, Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the most preferred destination of tourists in 2019.

In terms of the number of domestic tourists’ footfall, the state has secured first rank last year. The interest of tourists has been steadily increasing in destinations like Ayodhya, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Mathura, Agra, Chitrakoot, Kushinagar, Shravasti, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Lakhimpur, Bahraich, Jhansi and other places.