May 25, 2016
New Delhi: The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping,
Nitin Gadkari, dedicated 20 buses of the Rajasthan State Road Transport
Corporation with IT-enabled safety measures for women under the Nirbhaya
Scheme in Delhi on Wednesday.
As an initiative of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways under the NIRBHAYA
Scheme, 10 luxury buses and 10 general buses have been provided with Vehicle
Tracking System (VTS), CCTV cameras and Panic Buttons on every seat to provide
immediate help to women passengers in distress.
Gadkari said that certain unfortunate incidents in the recent past have forced his
Ministry to take this step, so that women travelling in buses will be more safe. He
informed that the CCTV cameras, the Vehicle Tracking System and especially the
Panic Buttons will enable the police to know the exact location of the bus and
provide prompt assistance. The Minister also said that efforts would be made to
ensure that the scheme is extended to other buses and other States also in due
course. He also said buses in future should be manufactured along with these
features. Shri Gadkari said that these measures will keep anti-social elements
under check.
The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways will issue a notification next month
making it mandatory for public vehicles with seating capacity of 23 or more to
have CCTV camera, Vehicle Location Tracking Device and Panic Buttons. Those
with seating capacity of less than 23 will be required to have Vehicle Tracking
Device and emergency buttons. A draft notification has already been issued in this
regard.
The scheme, approved by the Union Cabinet in January last year, includes setting
up of a unified system at the National Level (National Vehicle Security and
Tracking System) and State level (City Command and Control Centre) for GPS
tracking of the location of, emergency buttons in and video recording of incidents
in public transport vehicles.
In the first phase, 32 cities in 13 States with a population of 10 lakhs or more will
be covered. The total estimated cost of the project is Rs 1,404.68 cr which will be
funded by the Ministry of Finance from the 'Nirbhaya Fund'.
Once the scheme is made operational in major million plus cities, ensuring safe,
reliable and comfortable public passenger bus service across the country will be
made possible.
The scheme will include maping of routes of the public vehicles, tracking of
vehicles on the route, highlighting of violations through visual and text signals,
panic button alert to transport and police through visual, text and voice, permit,
registration and license cancellation based criteria for enforcement and providing
safety and security to women and girl child in distress in minimum response
time.
Video recording in public transport vehicles with large seating capacity will be
used as evidence. This will act a preventive measure for probable offenders.