Bhubaneswar: Odisha Commerce & Transport Department Minister, Tukuni Sahu on Friday inaugurated the Command & Control Centre for Vehicle Location Tracking Device (AIS-140). The 24X7 integrated Command & Control Centre located at Bhubaneswar-II RTO new office building will use both Global Positioning System (GPS)-based vehicle tracking and the GSM/GPRS channel for triggering emergency alerts.
The common emergency toll lines, motor vehicles wing, the police control room and related enforcement units will be looped into a real-time data sharing network with the command control centre functioning as an interface for stakeholder agencies. A mobile application has also been developed for various stakeholders and users and commission Geographic Information System (GIS) map for vehicle location tracking system.
Under the Nirbhaya Scheme for women’s safety, the Central Government has made vehicle location tracking system mandatory for public transport vehicles and goods vehicles. Accordingly amendment has been made in Central Motor Vehicle Rule 1989 for making mandatory fitment of VLT device in all public transport vehicles. In order to standardize device throughout the country AIS-140 Standard has been prescribed. The State Govt. in compliance to above amendment and direction is implementing VLT application.
Speaking at the inauguration Smt. Sahu said, “The objective of the project is to introduce a tracking system as required for the implementation of central notifications for continuous monitoring of public transport vehicles for safety of passengers specially women, better road safety and better support for enforcement services. This will also help in keeping track of public buses running as per the permit.”
Smt. UshaPadhee, Principal Secretary, Commerce & Transport informed, “For development, management and operation of Vehicle Location Tracking (VLT) application, the State Transport Authority, Govt. of Odisha signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).”
BSNL has developed, deployed, integrated and commissioned a vehicle location tracking software backend application named “Mo Yatra Suraksha” for tracking and monitoring of vehicles covered under the project.
Among others, Shri Amitabh Thakur, Transport Commissioner, Odisha was present at the inaugural ceremony.
Govt. of India has approved manufacturers to fit VLT devices and panic buttons. The State had published the standard operating procedure (SOP) for empanelment of these manufacturers. As of now, 6 VLTD manufacturers have been registered in the state and 11 VLTD manufacturers have completed their testing in the state backend. Accordingly, these empanelled manufacturers have started affixing the VLTD devices to both new and old vehicles. The vehicle owners have the liberty to choose and affix VLTD devices from the empanelled VLTD manufacturers which are available in the website www.odishatransport.gov.in.
Except auto rickshaws and e-rickshaws, all passenger transport vehicles, including both government and private buses, school and college buses and cabs/taxis will be equipped with VLT panic buttons for the safety of women and children.
All goods vehicles operating under the strength of National Permit and all good vehicles transporting explosive and hazardous materials have to install VLT devices.
The specified vehicles registered on or after 01.01.2024 shall have to comply with the requirement at the time of registration. The specified vehicles registered on or before 31.12.2023 shall have to comply with the requirement by 30.06.2024.
The Centre has made VLT mandatory for public transport and goods vehicles under the Nirbhaya scheme for women’s safety. The specified vehicles registered on or after 01.01.2024 shall have to comply with the requirement at the time of registration. The specified vehicles registered on or before 31.12.2023 shall have to comply with the requirement by 30.06.2024.