A call centre in Noida to answer queries of national highway users and seek feedback from them was launched by Road Transport Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari here on Wednesday.

The call centre will have a common number — 1033 — against the present practice of having different numbers for each toll plaza, said National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Chairman Deepak Kumar here.

NHAI also launched an app to alert national highway users one km in advance about the location of a toll plaza and also the exact toll charges. This will curb over-charging of customers.

Called the “sukhad yatra” app, it has options allowing users to know their highway, rate their experience and also post photos and videos on various issues. In a related move to improve road safety, the Road Transport and Highways Ministry launched a scheme to allow individuals, NGOs and other institutes to set up automated driving training institutes, where simulated computers and sensors will be used to qualify drivers.

The NGOs have to be registered on NITI Aayog’s portal, said Abhay Damle, Joint Secretary-Transport, Road Ministry.

The licence to set up these institutes will be provided by the district collector or transport commissioner, and once drivers qualify by passing through these institutes – the RTO will provide driving licences within three days.

There is a provision to have contracts with logistics players and aggregators for placement of these candidates.

Launching the scheme, Gadkari said that these steps will help reduce accidents, and create a pool of skilled drivers. These institutes will be set up in rural and tribal areas to enable job creation. These institutes can also avail themselves of grant of up to ₹1 crore subject to conditions. The scheme will be open till March 31, 2020.

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