Tirath for location track on cellphones

With crime against women on the rise, the Women & Child Development (WCD) ministry has demanded that mobile operators immediately set up Location Based Services (LBS) in mobile phones which will help track women in distress. Moushumi Das Gupta reports.

With crime against women on the rise, the Women & Child Development (WCD) ministry has demanded that mobile operators immediately set up Location Based Services (LBS) in mobile phones which will help track women in distress.

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In May 2011, the Department of Telecommunications had made it mandatory for mobile operators across India to set up LBS with location accuracy of 50 meters but the latter are yet to comply.

LBS can go a long way in helping law enforcement agencies to check crime by providing real time information about the location of a mobile user. Also, the application does not require any additional features such as internet, wi-fi or GPS and can work with basic handsets.

WCD minister Krishna Tirath on Monday shot off a letter to telecom minister Kapil Sibal asking him to crack the whip on mobile operators to implement LBS immediately. "Such a service can help track the location of women in danger …. Unfortunately, the telecom operators are yet to implement the system…. I would request you to kindly look into its implementation," Tirath's letter states.

But mobile operators are not in a mood to implement the directive anytime soon. "The cost to implement the LBS based on the accuracy standards fixed by DoT is simply not feasible. We are willing to set it up if the government bears the cost," Rajan S Mathews, DG, Cellular Operators Association of India, told HT.