NEW DELHI: Your
bus rides are going to get safer as
Delhi government will soon be
floating tenders for installing
CCTV cameras, GPS and
panic buttons in all
DTC and
cluster scheme buses. Plans are also afoot to provide Wi-Fi in the transport vehicles.
The plan includes installation of four panic buttons in each bus, which will be linked to a GPS system, apart from three internet protocol-based CCTV cameras. The live feeds will be monitored from a centralised control room from where immediate action will be taken if a panic button is pressed.
“We will float the tender as soon as the transport minister gives the go-ahead. The file is with him at present,” said a transport department official. “We expect the rollout to begin from March next year. We are also discussing the possibility of providing Wi-Fi, but the plan is at a nascent stage,” he added.
Transport minister Kailash Gahlot couldn’t be contacted for comments despite repeated phone calls and messages.
As part of the plan, on-board announcements and LED display boards will notify that the bus is equipped with a panic alarm system. If an alarm is pressed, a loud beep will sound for 40 seconds. The driver will then have to take the bus to left side of the road and stop it. The conductor will locate who pressed the alarms and assist her. If the situation cannot be addressed, then the depot manager will be informed to call the PCR.
The panic alarm will also be integrated with GPS so that every time it is pressed the depot manager and central command centre of cluster bus operations at DIMTS Kashmere Gate will get an immediate alert.
The CCTV cameras will have pan-tilt-zoom capability and will be rugged to withstand vandalism. In a pilot, DTC had installed 200 cameras in buses of Sarojini Nagar and Rajghat depots. Each bus has three cameras and maintains data for 15 days.
Representative image.
