By: IPP Bureau
Last updated : April 16, 2026 3:01 pm
Research by NITI Aayog and All India Institute of Medical Sciences has shown that at least 30% of trauma deaths are linked to delays in emergency response
In a major road safety intervention, the Telangana government has launched Project Sanjeevani, described as India’s first fully integrated trauma care and highway rescue protocol, to reduce preventable deaths on highways.
The initiative will be piloted on a 251-km stretch of NH-44 between Hyderabad and Adilabad, one of the country’s high-burden corridors for road fatalities.
The launch was held as part of Telangana’s ‘Arrive Alive’ Road Safety Week (April 13–17) under the state’s 99-Day Action Plan (Praja Palana Pragati Pranalika), in the presence of Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Special Chief Secretary, and K. Ilambarithi, IAS, Transport Commissioner.
The pilot is being implemented by SaveLIFE Foundation in collaboration with the Government of Telangana and National Highways Authority of India, with support from Vertis Foundation. Officials said the model is designed to become a replicable national framework for highway trauma response, with the potential to be scaled across Telangana and other states.
Project Sanjeevani introduces a technology-enabled, multi-agency emergency response system built on the global Chain of Survival framework. Under the protocol, dedicated Quick Response Teams stationed at toll plazas must reach crash sites within 10 minutes, sharply reducing the current average highway response time of over 26 minutes. Police, fire, health and transport teams will function through a unified incident command structure, while ambulance crews will follow standardised triage and hospital pre-notification protocols to ensure treatment within the golden hour.
The corridor has 45 high-risk crash clusters accounting for nearly 60% of road deaths on the stretch, highlighting the urgency of the intervention. Research by NITI Aayog and All India Institute of Medical Sciences has shown that at least 30% of trauma deaths are linked to delays in emergency response and trauma care, many of which are preventable.
The programme will also deploy real-time crash detection and alert systems, while strengthening institutional capacity through Basic and Advanced Trauma Life Support training, mock drills, and cross-department coordination across all seven districts on the corridor.
According to Piyush Tewari, the initiative is intended as a proof of concept for a national post-crash trauma response system, rather than a conventional pilot.
The protocol draws on evidence from SaveLIFE Foundation’s Zero-Fatality Corridor programme on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which reported a 63% reduction in road crash deaths, and is now being advanced for wider adoption by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
The Telangana pilot is expected to cut ambulance response times, improve survival outcomes and reduce long-term disability among crash victims, potentially setting a new benchmark for highway safety systems in India.