MoRTH states installation of AIS 140 certified vehicle tracking mandatory

BENGALURU: On Monday the transport department had said that they would be making vehicle tracking and the emergency buttons mandatory for all the new public transport vehicles within the state as the deadline of the Centre is said to be expiring on Tuesday.

In a notification, which was given by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) it had stated that the installation of AIS 140 certified vehicle tracking system along with the emergency button is mandatory from the 1st of January, 2019 in all new public/passenger vehicles and also commercial vehicles with national permit.

“This is mandatory to obtain a vehicle registration or fitness certificate from any RTOs. The respective RTO officials will ensure the compliance,” said a press release from the transport department.

“BSNL has developed AIS-140 national vehicle tracking portal to enable all states to check compliance as per mandate and then issue a registration or fitness certificate. This portal enables to capture the VLT device details along with vehicle and chassis numbers and integrate with the Vahan portal. Once the details are integrated, the state can monitor vehicle movement and its location, get overspeeding alerts and also emergency notification alerts if a panic button is pressed by any passenger. Subsequently the state or its authorised agency can take preventive or corrective action. The entire system that comprises vehicle tracking and emergency response system will ensure passenger safety and also will go a long way to prevent accidents and ensure road safety,” it said.

However, the experts have said that making the installation of gadgets in vehicles mandatory won’t serve the purpose unless there are proper infrastructure to track the vehicles and attend to emergency calls that will be made by the passengers.