Bhubaneswar: In an aim to enhance security of women and children while traveling in buses and other public transport vehicles, the State Government has made installation of vehicle location tracking (VLT) devices mandatory for specified vehicles used in public transport.
The deadline to comply with the requirement of the fitment of Vehicle Location Tracking device and panic buttons for the new vehicles registered on or after June 1, 2023 was May 31 and for other vehicles, it was notified as August 31, 2023.
Upon reviewing the available infrastructure & enlistment of device suppliers in the State, the Transport Department has extended the deadline.
Now, the specified vehicles registered on or after October 1, 2023 will have to comply with the requirement at the time of registration while the previously registered vehicles will have to fix the device by December, 2023.
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.
For development, management and operation of Vehicle Location Tracking (VLT) application, the State Transport Authority (STA) had signed an MoU with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in October last year.
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.
In accordance with the directions issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), STA will implement VLT application for Safety and Enforcement as per AIS-140 Standard to track the public transport and commercial vehicles in Odisha under the Nirbhaya framework.
A command control center is being set up in Bhubaneswar to track the vehicles plying across the state. The 24X7 integrated command centre will use both Global Positioning System (GPS)-based vehicle tracking and the GSM/GPRS channel for triggering emergency alerts.
