Akhilesh Srivastava, Chief General Manager (CGM), IT & Highway Operations, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), has been listed by the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) as a winner of the Vishwakarma Award (VKA) for Public Officer for his role in the realisation of the Central government’s ongoing highway modernisation project.

CGM Srivastava will be awarded the VKA on 7th March, 2018 at the 10th CIDC Vishwakarma Awards ceremony in the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
The Vishwakarma achievement award, or Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar (VRP), is an initiative of the Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India, to recognise the undertakings that are expediting government projects and improving lives of the citizens.

The CIDC, an autonomous apex body established by the Planning Commission, the Centre, and the construction industry, recognises individuals and organisations whose achievements are setting the benchmark for their respective domains in the roads and highways, and construction industries.
More than 150 persons and organisations, including high-revenue ventures helping the public sector, will receive the achievement awards under 16 categories, such as Achievement Award for Industry Doyen, Achievement Award for Creating Social Development and Impact, Achievement Award for Scientist/Academician/Technologist/Innovator, Achievement Award for Best News Coverage of Construction Industry, and many more.

Important information for the reader on the government initiatives being helmed by Akhilesh Srivastava: The government, through the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), had initiated a mega infrastructure project to modernise the highways sector. The project was handed over to the NHAI, with CGM Srivastava of the highway operations division as its in-charge.

In this initiative, the CGM implemented several subprojects such as Electronic Toll Collection (ETC), Wayside Amenities (WSA), Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS), and UAVs and LiDARs for highways projects.
1. The ETC enables instant and automatic fee deduction at Toll plazas, eliminating the need for motorists to stop at Toll gates.
2. The WSA includes advanced civic amenities and is aimed at revamping commuter experience on national highways with modern comforts.
3. The ATMS incorporates advanced technologies and software into one central database to manage highway incidents including accidents, grid locks, traffic jams, natural disasters, toll fraud, etc. and automatically dispatch relevant services such as ambulance, tow-away trucks, excavators, cranes, among others.
4. UAVs and LiDARs are being used by the highway authorities to monitor highway projects and prepare their DPRs and enable the ATMS.

The award winners are chosen by the CIDC on the basis of suggestions from public and private parties such as quality circles, general suggestions, safety suggestions, kaizen schemes, and others. The process is mediated by the labour and employment ministry. Srivastava is one among the six persons who will receive the award under the Public Officer category.