Kerala’s VTS for public transport monitoring stalls midway
The project aimed to cover around eight lakh public transport vehicles in Kerala, including buses, lorries, autorickshaws, and taxis.
Press Release, 17 December 2024
The Surakshamithram project, was launched in 2019 to enhance road safety by tracking the real-time location and speed of public transport vehicles. The Suraksha-Mitra project in Kerala is currently operational, serving as a vehicle monitoring system designed to enhance road safety. It is implemented under the Nirbhaya Scheme by the Motor Vehicle Department of Kerala. The system sends distress alerts via SMS and email to vehicle owners in case of accidents or overspeeding, using a Vehicle Location Tracking Device (VLTD) installed in vehicles. As of December 2024, this system has been integrated into 2.38 lakh vehicles across the state
This initiative, jointly undertaken by the Central and State governments, has been stalled due to implementation failures and financial constraints faced by the State.
The project had originally aimed to cover around eight lakh public transport vehicles in Kerala, including buses, lorries, autorickshaws, and taxis. The control rooms to monitor location data feeds were never fully established. It was supposed to be at all the districts in Kerala along with one state level facility for monitoring these location data and emergency alerts. These control room/centres were designed to operate 24/7, but due to shortage of manpower it was reduced to just eight hours a day.
