The state transport department is considering schemes to introduce Global Positioning System (GPS) enabled vehicles in West Bengal. The utility is to be installed to ensure safety and prevent malpractices by transport operators.
The state Transport Minister, Firhad Hakim, held a meeting with some of the organisations having expertise in the field. According to Mr Hakim, this is for the time in India, that the GPS tracking system will be installed in such vehicles to trace buses and goods carrying vehicles.
The system is to be installed in the government buses first, in the next six months or so. The system will later be expanded to the private buses and the goods carrying vehicles. “Today we saw presentations given on the GPS based vehicle tracking system by various organisations. We are putting efforts to ensure that the system is installed in most of such vehicles of West Bengal in the next six months” informed the minister.
The system, according to Mr Hakim, will enable tracking of the speed of the vehicle and will provide information if a bus is moving off the route. In case a passenger feels unsafe, he would be able to report it to the headquarters
through an alarm and the police will get the information immediately. The system will be made compulsory for all buses including those operated by the private owners. If a bus operator switches off the GPS, a buzzer will ring and the police will seize the vehicle.
“In case of goods carrying vehicles, the system will enable us to track if the vehicle is going through the weighbridges or anywhere else. In addition, the weighbridges will have CCTV cameras to keep a check on malpractices
by the vehicles. In the next six months or one year, we will ensure that there are no cases of overloading of trucks,” added the transport minister.
The department is said to have identified a huge space at a bus depot in Salt Lake for setting up a monitoring station.