Decks cleared for fitting panic buttons in public service vehicles
LUCKNOW: Finally, the decks are cleared for the installation of vehicle location tracking (VLT) devices and emergency panic buttons in around 4 lakh permitholding public service vehicles in Uttar Pradesh to enhance safety of women as well as other passengers. The passengers will be able to raise an alert in case of any emergency to get prompt help. After the Central govt recently provided around Rs 52 crore grant to the state under the Nirbhaya framework, the UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) has prepared the request for proposal (RFP) and uploaded the same on its website for prospective bidders to implement the ambitious project.
“Having floated the RFP, we will hold a pre-bid conference on June 11 after which we will invite bids from expert agencies to carry out the project for equipping all the public service vehicles, including UPSRTC and private buses, with VLT devices (AIS-140 specifications) and emergency buttons to provide immediate assistance to passengers in emergency,” UPSRTC managing director and transport commissioner Dheeraj Sahu said.
“The final project that will make real-time seamless tracking vehicles possible may be rolled out very soon this year after the implementing agency is selected,” he added.
As per the scheme, the public service vehicles fitted with VLT devices and emergency buttons will be integrated with the stateof-the art centralized 24x7 monitoring centre being set up in the transport commissioner office. The backend system of the monitoring centre will be hosted on the NIC cloud.
“Any emergency alarm raised by a passenger will land on two VLT platforms simultaneously— on the transport department’s monitoring centre as well as on the national 112 police helpline. These centres will verify and communicate the message to the nearest interceptor/response vehicle to make the assistance available promptly to the passenger concerned,” explained another UPSRTC official aware of the project.
The project, according to him, would help the UPSRTC to keep a close watch on all its 11,500 buses and 100 interceptors remotely. “Apart from enabling passengers to get prompt help in situations like sexual attack on a woman passenger, hold-up of a bus or a road mishap, the project will also help us keep a close watch on our buses for many other purposes , helping us plug in leakages and improve services,” the official said.
Of the Rs 52 crore that UP has got as grant from the Centre to execute the project, Rs 5 crore will be spent on publicity campaign alone to make people aware of the project and how to seek emergency help when they are in any trouble.