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3,775 DTC buses, app-based cabs still not GPS-tracked by Delhi government

NGO Raahat raises the issue of women safety in Capital's public transport

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Kamal Soi, the chairman of Raahat Foundation at a press meet
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Even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government celebrated its three years of governance in the national Capital, it has failed on its poll promise of making women feel safe in the city. The fleet of 3,775 Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses and private app-based cab aggregators are still not GPS-tracked by the government.

Raahat, a Delhi-based NGO working for the safety of women, on Tuesday raised the issue of safety equipment such as GPS, panic buttons and CCTVs not being installed in public transport vehicles. This comes in the backdrop of the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry extending the deadline for installing Vehicle Tracking Systems (VTS) in all public service vehicles including buses, cabs and school buses, among others by another year to April 1, 2019. The notification for the same was issued in 2016.

The Delhi government's transport department had installed GPS in 3,980 buses in 2013, of which 1,200 turned defunct and another 700 were stolen the same year. However, the remaining 1,800 which were functional also stopped functioning as the DTC in 2015 stopped paying its maintenance to the company hired for the job.

At present, while only one of the 34 depots maintained by the transport department in Noida has around 300 GPS-enabled buses. However, the data of these buses is not registered with the department and hence these, too, are not tracked.

"We have no data of GPS-enabled DTC buses as the devices in these buses were stop being maintained in 2015. Only 1,614 cluster buses, which are GPS-enabled are tracked by the department's newly set-up Operations Control Centre," said a Delhi government official.

Kamal Soi, who heads Raahat, said, "We are in shock that despite numerous incidents of crimes against women in public transit, it has extended the deadline for another year. Maybe, they are waiting for another Nirbhaya. The Union government must rather make it a policy for these systems to be fitted while the vehicle is purchased or registered with the transport department."

While the government maintains that CCTVs were installed on 200 buses on Sarojini Nagar and Rajghat depots, the records of footage from these buses are not available with the Central Control Room managed by the transport department.

The AAP government has around 2800 marshalls to be deployed on DTC buses in two shifts during the day, however, it is difficult to spot them on duty. Besides, officials said, without any training and weapon, there is nothing much they can do either.

NO DATA

  • At present, only one of the 34 depots maintained by the transport department in Noida has around 300 GPS-enabled buses. 
     
  • However, the data of these buses is not registered with the department and hence these, too, are not tracked.
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