The Delhi government has directed the owners of the public transport vehicles, including autos and taxis, to ensure that the GPS/GPRS devices they have installed are in working condition.
The Delhi Transport department will launch a special drive from March 1 to initiate action such as issuing challan, impounding vehicles and termination of permit, for violations of the directive aimed at ensuring safety of passengers in the public transport.
The department has issued a public notice informing that as per the permit conditions, the public transport vehicles, including the autos, taxis, buses and gramin sewa, are required to install the GPS/GPRS devices that are in working condition by February 15.
A transport department official said that the majority of the public service vehicles plying in the national capital roads lack proper GPS/GPRS devices that are in working condition.
As per the available data, there are 13,000 private buses, out of which over 9,000 have GPS devices, while over 2,500 devices that are in working condition.
There are 40,000 taxis of which approximately 19,000 have GPS devices but only 1,800 are in working condition.
Serious concern is expressed over the safety of school children, but out of the registered 25,000 school cabs, only 4,380 have GPS devices, out of which only 380 are in working condition, he said.
The ubiquitous autos, phat-phat sewa and gramin sewa vehicles have GPS devices in majority of the cases but the number of working ones is very less, the official added.
The global positioning system (GPS) and general packet raido services (GPRS) devices are wireless natigation systems that are used for tracking purposes.
The transport department has come up with a well-equipped control room to track the public transport vehicles and receive calls on its helpline number real-time.
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