The government of Uttar Pradesh has mandated the installation of CCTV cameras in all school vans operating in the state. This decision has been made to ensure the safety and security of students. The state transport principal secretary, L Venkateshwarlu, has issued a notification in this regard. As per the notification, the rule will come into effect three months after its publication in the Gazette.
Provision for installing CCTV cameras was already in place
According to a senior transportation official, the provision of CCTV cameras was already in the Uttar Pradesh Motor Vehicle Rules and had been installed in some school vans as well. Now, the notification has fixed the last date for installing CCTV cameras in all school vans in the state. Such cameras would be installed in all public transport vehicles once the proposed centralised vehicle location tracking centre was ready to function, he said.
All vehicles will be monitored under Nirbhaya framework
The transport department in the state has taken a significant step towards ensuring the safety of public transport vehicles. They have engaged a private agency to implement the Vehicle Location Tracking System (VLTS) which will monitor the vehicles under the Nirbhaya framework. The agency will deploy, integrate, test and commission a vehicle tracking platform for this purpose.
The project aims to integrate all public transport vehicles, except for two-wheelers, three-wheelers and e-rickshaws, with vehicle location tracking devices. An integrated control and command center will monitor the location of all such vehicles in real time.
The transport department's action complies with the Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) notification and order. It mandates that all specified public service vehicles, as defined under section 2(35) of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, and vehicles requiring/having national permits must be equipped with the Vehicle Location Tracking Device along with one or more emergency buttons.
