GPS answer to Blueline menace: HC

Delhi High Court expressed serious concern over the continuing killer run by the city’s Blueline buses and said installation of a Global Positioning System was the only way to tame them, reports Harish V Nair.

Delhi High Court on Wednesday expressed serious concern over the continuing killer run by the city’s Blueline buses and said installation of a Global Positioning System (GPS) was the only way to tame them.

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The GPS tracking system fitted in the bus will help a control body keep tabs on speeding buses to penalise them as well as monitor their adherence to a time-table. Authorities can also check the exact location of every bus in real time.

The facility will also help check whether the buses stop at designated bus stops and maintain the designated lanes.

“Every day at least one person or more persons are getting killed. It seems GPS system is the easiest way to prevent any traffic violation. After they are installed if any bus is found to have been committed any violation, the bus should be straight away grounded,” said a division bench of Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice Sanjeev Khanna.

When asked about the delay in procuring the GPS system despite an order of the court way back on October 3, 2007, government counsel Mukta Gupta said the contractor to whom the tender was awarded had backed out and the process had to be initiated all over again.

The bench then asked the transport department to float a new tender within four months 2,500 more low-floor buses.
Gupta also informed the court that the government has received 650 low-floor buses and had ordered for 2,500 more.

Pushkarna said the unique features of the new DTC low-floor buses have resulted in much lower rate of accidents.

Submitting a suggestion for better safety norms and streamlining public transport system, he said the low-floor entry and exit has resulted in lesser accidents on boarding and disembarking. He said Blueline drivers needed to be rested for 4-5 days compulsory in a month.