The Madhya Pradesh government has made it mandatory to install emergency buttons and vehicle tracking devices in passenger vehicles from August 1. Vehicle owners who do not get these devices installed in their vehicles will not be given a fitness certificate.

This decision has been taken to check the incidents of molestation of women and girls during their travel. For real time monitoring of all these vehicles, a Control Command Center is being set up at the Transport Office, Bhopal. Command center data can be shared with police and other security agencies in case of emergency.

In view of the safety of women, these will be installed in buses, taxis, cabs. This button will be useful to the passengers in case of tampering, indecency, or any untoward incident in the vehicle.

If a passenger presses the panic button in an emergency, an alarm will sound immediately in the police helpline and control room at Bhopal. By tracing the location of the vehicle with the help of GPS in the command center, information will be given to the nearest police who will reach the spot and help the people in trouble.

Let us tell you that it has been made mandatory to have Vehicle Tracking Device and Panic Button in all the vehicles registered till 31st December 2018. At the same time, now the government will register new vehicles only if they have panic button and GPS installed.

Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, Principal Secretary, Transport Department said that to provide security to women passengers, it has been made mandatory to install vehicle location tracking device and emergency button in public service vehicles, buses, taxis etc. by August 1.

A notification in this regard has also been issued by the Union Transport Ministry.