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The Vishwakarma Award Bestowed to Mr Akhilesh Srivastava
Awards and recognition reinforce the faith in the work and they play a vital role in motivating a
person. Many governments and Non Governmental Organizations grant awards to personalities
as well as organizations. The Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC), which is a
government body allied to the erstwhile planning commission (Now, Niti Aayog), also believes
in acknowledging developmental efforts. It annually confers “CIDC Vishwakarma Award” to
eminent personalities and organizations. This year CIDC bestowed the award to Mr Akhilesh
Srivastava, CGM (Highway operations and IT) NHAI, under the category of “Public Officer”.
Mr Srivastava, who is known for his work commitment, received this award on 7th March 2018
in the Stern Auditorium, India Habitat Center, New Delhi from CIDC. He got selected for this
award for his contributions to the Highway sector.
Mr Srivastava’s role is hard to be ignored in the following developments undertaken by the
National Highways Authority of India:
Wayside Amenities Project (WAP)
National Highway Network has been witnessing accidents for years. Some of them are attributed
to stress-induced situations. To deal with such problems, the Highway operations division of
NHAI, under the leadership of Mr. Akhilesh Srivastava, has been involved in the task of
creating world-class amenities alongside National Highways.
Under this project, the land abutting the National Highways is going to get revamped with the
commuter-centric facilities. And the facilities are going to be branded with three names namely
Highway Nests (MINI), Highway Nests, and Highway Villages.
These three brands are categorized based on facilities they provide. And, this is one of the
massive developmental work undertaken by the NHAI under Public Private Partnership (PPP).
FASTag
Mr Akhilesh Srivastava, who is known for his tech-savvy nature, is one of the key personalities
involved in the successful implementation of the FASTag project.
FASTag which was referred as Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) earlier is shaping the national
highways of India into better places to travel and conduct trade activities. FASTag, which works
on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, lets commuters pay Toll electronically
bypassing human intervention. This system was put in place to decongest the Toll Plazas and
reduce the travel time. The system is living up to its expectations now. All thanks to the
Highways operations division which is under the astute leadership of Mr Akhilesh Srivastava.
The aforementioned initiatives/reforms are just two of Mr Srivastava’s works and many more are
yet to unfold from him.