To rein in the chaotic traffic situation in the Capital, the Delhi Police is now fitting some of their vehicles, including their official and patrol vehicles, with GPS (global positioning system) devices.

This would include 410 patrol motorcycles, 91 rescue cranes, six disaster management vehicles, among others. This will enable the officers manning the helplines to see in real time the position of vehicles on roads.

“The idea is to make co-ordination work easier during rains or days when traffic is heavy. Although even at present we can track the position of vehicles by calling them on the wireless set, but this would reduce that time as well,” said Joint Commissioner (Traffic) S N Shrivastava.

An Ahmedabad-based firm, Infinium Messers Limited, has been awarded the contract. Till now, nearly 100 vehicles have been fitted with the hardware required for GPS, though it has not been activated yet.

Telecom firm IDEA is providing the connectivity for the system, which will be in place by November 15.

As per the initial plan, only the Traffic Control Room in Vikas Bhawan and the traffic helpline will have the digital map, which will show the location of all vehicles. “We plan to extend it to other senior police officers’ offices soon. The firm has also promised to give us the option of mobile monitoring the location of vehicles at a later date,” Shrivastava said.

The system has been put in place on BOT (build, operate and transfer) basis. The firm will responsible for maintenance and repair of the hardware and the Delhi Police will only pay the lease amount.

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