NO PLACE TO TAKE A BREAK

INDIA'S NETWORK OF HIGHWAYS EXPANDS AT BREAKNECK SPEED, BUT WAYSIDE AMENITIES FAIL TO KEEP PACE, MAKING ROAD JOURNEYS A FRAUGHT EXPERIENCE. THE GOVERNMENT HOPES TO CHANGE THAT SOON

- By AVISHEK G. DASTIDAR

GURUGRAM-BASED CYRIL NAIR, a senior software executive, was en route to Jaisalmer with family when, just an hour along the new access-controlled highway, his toddler son piped up with some urgency: “Daddy, I need to pee.

” They were in the middle of what seemed like nowhere, ominous clouds thundering overhead and heavy rain lashing the windshield. All 44-year-old Nair could see through the persevering wipers were a few metres of asphalt. No sign of a rest stop anywhere. “I had to tell my family that we couldn't stop... We had to drive another 30 km to find a place with a decent wash room.”

And therein lies the paradox of India’s highway boom—146,200 km of gleaming expressways crisscrossing the country, built to power tourism and industry, but only 94 operational wayside amenities (WSAs)—government-regulated rest facilities that include fuel stations, food courts, toilets, medical rooms and so on—along them. Roughly put, that is an average gap of 1,553 km between each rest stop. The ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) is now trying to rectify the situation through a policy pivot that aims to install such facilities every 30-40 km along national highways, in line with international standards: the United States (every 43 km), the United Kingdom (35 km) and China (33 km).