Kolkata: The West Bengal Transport Department has directed owners of commercial vehicles to ensure that the tracking devices installed are operational and the panic buttons are fit. The tracking devices are essential for the proper functioning of panic buttons inside the vehicles.
A commercial vehicle must have a functional tracking device fitted to it to clear the mandatory fitness test and there are guidelines issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India (MoRTH) for the same.
C-DAC has developed a software application to monitor vehicles with tracking devices. West Bengal has a control and command centre in central Kolkata since 2023 to monitor vehicles and receive emergency calls through panic buttons.
Unless a vehicle location tracking device (VLTD) is recharged after paying the requisite amount, the panic buttons fitted to it would not work.
If someone is subsequently in distress and presses the button, the control and command centre would not get to know and necessary actions would not follow.
In this scenario, senior transport department officials met with owners of commercial vehicles, including buses, trucks and pool cars.
The officials reiterated that owners cannot keep the tracking devices non-functional and recharge them only during fitness tests.
However, many owners complained about the poor services of the companies manufacturing and selling these devices in West Bengal. They alleged that these companies are charging high fees for recharging the devices.
According to the Transport Department, close to one lakh commercial vehicles of all categories have location tracking devices fitted to them. Once a device is silent, some of these companies do not receive customer calls, according to the operators. As a result, many commercial vehicle owners have remained reluctant to recharge the device.
The recharge fees would vary between Rs 3000 to Rs 4000, but after recharge, many companies ignore complaints once the device starts malfunctioning.
However, understanding the situation, the state government has instructed device manufacturers to ensure that the recharge amount does not exceed Rs 2000.
Police officials emphasised that a fully functional tracking device is essential for responding to panic button alarms. When an alarm is triggered, officers can track the vehicle’s location and alert the nearest police station.
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