PATNA: All public transport vehicles, including private buses and cabs, across the state will soon have to be fitted with VLTs (vehicle location tracking) and panic buttons, which will help authorities monitor incidences of over-speeding and reckless driving, and also facilitate them in seeking police assistance during emergency, according to transport department officials.
A control room has been set-up by the department in Vishveswarya Bhawan and required software has been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to locate the GPS-enabled vehicles on real-time basis, they said.
“A notification regarding this will be issued by next week and after that the vehicles will have to install VLTs and panic button within three months from the given date. For this, we will give licenses to the private companies and the vehicle owners can approach authorised companies for the installation. Several companies have approached the department and we are scrutinising them,” said transport department secretary, Sanjay Kumar Agarwal.
He said all the vehicles, including school buses and yellow-plated private cabs across the state, have to be fitted with VLTs and panic button, and the SOPs to all the district authorities and vehicle operators have been sent.
Talking about the merits of the new system, Agarwal told TOI on Saturday that the panic button will be directly connected to the control room. “If a person press the button, an alert will be immediately flashed on a screen at the control room and through the records, we can check the vehicle number, operator, drive and the location of the vehicle through VLTs. After scrutiny, the department will alert the police station concerned in case of emergency, to provide the required assistance to the user. The software will have all the data in their system about each and every vehicle equipped with this new system,” the secretary said.
He added: “In buses, 5-6 panic buttons will be installed at short gap near the seat, depending on the size of the fleet, while in private cabs there will be one on the back seat. Panic buttons will allow passengers to seek immediate help from authorities concerned.”
The department has started a pilot run of the new system in all 25 electric buses of Bihar State Road Transport Corporation ltd (BSRTC) running in Patna. The e-buses are equipped with panic button and VLTs.
Agarwal said the department will held a meeting with the heads of the schools and direction will be given to them to install VLTs and panic buttons in their buses for the safety of the students. “Similarly, three months’ time will also be given to them for the installation. With the help of VLTs, the authorities will be able monitor and curb incidences of over-speeding, sharp turning and reckless driving. It will help us to reduce road accident cases and avoid traffic jams. If a driver runs the vehicle above the permissible speed limit, then an alert will be sent to the control room. Based on the message, we can issue challan to him. The habitual offenders may lose their permit as well,” he said.
“The new system will also be helpful in curbing crime against women in public transport,” the secretary added.
