Maharashtra: Nearly 95,000 passenger vehicles now have GPS trackers for women's safety

Nearly 95,000 passenger vehicles in Maharashtra are now fitted with GPS tracking devices. Representational Pic/File

Nearly 95,000 passenger vehicles in Maharashtra are now fitted with GPS tracking devices that allow real-time monitoring and include an onboard SOS alert button, aimed at improving commuter safety, especially for women and children, officials said on Sunday, reported the PTI.

The Vehicle Location Tracking Devices (VLTDs) help authorities locate a vehicle instantly through a newly set-up control room at the Andheri RTO in Mumbai, according to a senior official from the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Department (MMVD).

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"A total of 94,974 vehicles have these GPS-enabled devices. If a passenger presses the red panic button inside the vehicle, an alert is sent immediately to the control room with the vehicle's details and location," the officials said, according to the PTI.

The control room is operational 24/7, staffed by assistant motor vehicle inspectors and technical support teams from service providers. They follow standard operating procedures when an SOS alert is received.

The rule for installing such tracking devices comes from a Union government notification dated November 28, 2016, under Rule 125H of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989. It requires all public service vehicles (except two-wheelers, e-rickshaws, and three-wheelers) registered after January 1, 2019, to be fitted with VLTDs and emergency buttons, as per the PTI.

The control room began working in October 2024. Since then, the system has tracked vehicles such as school buses, tourist taxis, contract carriage buses, and stage carriage buses.

While Maharashtra has around 4.9 crore registered vehicles, a large number of passenger vehicles still do not have active VLTDs, especially older ones registered before 2019. These include school buses, meter taxis, and luxury cabs.

Officials said that once the state government decides on fitting older vehicles with VLTDs, most passenger vehicles will be covered within the next two years.

However, the department is facing a major issue: many VLTDs are non-functional. Recently, 18,900 devices were found to be inactive, leaving only 76,085 active.

Letters have been sent to Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) to take action against vehicles with non-working VLTDs. Penalties may include fines, suspension of permits, or cancellation of fitness certificates, depending on the seriousness of the violation.

The central control room at Andheri RTO has been set up by BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) and is partly funded by the Nirbhaya Fund, which supports projects for women's safety in public spaces and transport, the news agency reported.

(with PTI inputs)