Odisha to study Kerala, Uttarakhand models on vehicle tracking system
BHUBANESWAR: The state government has decided to send a team of officers to Kerala and Uttarakhand to study the functioning of the vehicle location tracking systems in their public transport vehicles. Centre has been providing assistance from Nirbhaya fund to states to implement the project in public transport vehicles for the safety of women commuters.
“We have planned to send our technical team and functionaries of Wipro, our consultant, to Kerala and Uttarakhand on February 28 to see how these two states have implemented the project. Based on their study report, we will prepare our plan of action and float the tender,” state transport commissioner Sanjeeb Panda said.
The state government plans to go live with the project by December 15 this year. Passenger buses, mini-buses, school buses and cabs/taxis will compulsorily be equipped with the vehicle location tracking (VLT) gadgets and panic buttons near the seats for the safety of women travellers. Women in distress can press the emergency buttons and expect a quick response from the police. A control room will be created to receive alerts from women commuters.
The proposed project’s cost is around Rs 15.40 crore. The Centre and state would share 60% and 40% of the project cost, respectively. Out of the Central share of Rs 9.24 crore, the Centre has released nearly Rs 4.19 crore to the state government. Another Rs 4 crore has been deducted by the Centre towards IT installations by the national informatics centre, national project management unit and dashboard of the ministry of road transport and highways.
Instances of harassment of female passengers in public transport vehicles have been occurring in regular intervals. Though the state government had in 2015 asked bus owners to install CCTV cameras in their vehicles, the order has not been implemented yet.