PANAJI
In a bid to enhance safety of women and girl child, the Goa government, following directions from the Centre, has proposed to ensure that all public service vehicles are fitted with vehicle location tracking (VLT) devices and emergency buttons.
All public service vehicles registered on or after January 1, 2019 would be fitted with VLT device and emergency buttons and the onus lies with the vehicle owner.
The project, launched in 2020 by the Union Government, is under Nirbhaya Framework.
According to the information released by the Union Ministry for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), the Ministry received proposals seeking financial assistance for the project from 33 States and Union Territories including Goa.
While 11 States have already set up the monitoring system, Goa is in the advanced stage of getting all its public transport fitted with VLT and emergency buttons and commissioning of the Monitoring Centres. Centre will provide 60 per cent of the cost of the project, sources said.
Sources informed that MoRTH has recently written to all State governments asking them to expedite the implementation of the project. “Since very little progress could be achieved on setting up the Monitoring Centres, it was felt necessary to support the States under Nirbhaya Framework to set up Monitoring Centres at the earliest so as to effectively implement the vehicle tracking system and ensure safe commute to the women and children in public passenger transport vehicles," the communication said.
In view of Nirbhaya incident, Union Ministry in January 2020, had approved a scheme for implementation of “Development, Customization, Deployment and Management of State-wise vehicle tracking platform for Safety & Enforcement as per AIS 140 Specifications in States / UTs under Nirbhaya Framework” at total estimated cost of Rs 463.90 crore (including Central and State share).
The proposed system envisages enhancing the safety of women and girl children by establishing Monitoring Centres across States/UTs, which shall track all public service vehicles that are fitted with location tracking device and emergency buttons for raising an alert in case of emergency.
The Monitoring Centre will monitor the alerts and coordinate with State Emergency Response Support System (SERSS) for responding to distress calls.
