BHUBANESWAR: Commissionerate Police provided green corridor to Surat Municipal Commissioner and Odia IAS officer Banchhanidhi Pani's ailing father Indramani Pani from SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack to Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in the capital.
Cuttack Urban Police District's (UPD) pilot vehicle and a Traffic Wing's van escorted the ambulance carrying Indramani and left from SCB Medical College and Hospital at about 9.48 am on Saturday. The escort reached Hanspal, which comes under Bhubaneswar UPD's Traffic Wing, at about 10.05 am.
Cuttack UPD's pilot vehicle and Bhubaneswar's Traffic Wing vehicle then facilitated the unhindered movement of the ambulance and reached BPIA at around 10.17 am.
All the traffic posts between Hanspal and BPIA were alerted about the green corridor provided to the seriously ill Indramani, who was airlifted to Surat in Gujarat in an air ambulance which was equipped with life support system with inotropic drugs.
Commissionerate Police took the shortest possible route to BPIA via Hanspal, Palasuni, Vani Vihar, Acharya Vihar, Jaydev Vihar service road, 120 Infantry Battalion, Rabindra Mandap Square, AG Square and Capital Hospital Square.
"Normally, it takes about an hour from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar airport due to the rush and traffic posts/signals. However, the patient in critical condition was shifted to the airport within 29 minutes as a green corridor was provided immediately," said Bhubaneswar Traffic ACP Swastik Panda.
Bhubaneswar police had faced severe criticism in February, 2020, as a 13-km stretch from Capital Hospital to KIMS allegedly took an ambulance an hour and a half, long enough to snuff out the life of a five-year-old kid who was in dire need of emergency medical attention.