TIRUPATI: After two vehicles stolen in the border parts of Andhra Pradesh were tracked down in Tamil Nadu thanks to GPS, the Chittoor district police were struck with the idea of fixing GPS to vehicles to trace their whereabouts in case they were stolen. The police had a successful drive in spreading GPS awareness to the public.
More than 900 vehicles in Chittoor town are now secured with GPS. The GPS device also has an option called “immobiliser” and the police are currently working on it. The immobiliser can be used by the vehicle owner to stop his vehicle using his own mobile phone, so that it cannot move an inch further.
There are almost 42 mandals in Chittoor district which are sharing borders with Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, while four mandals share a border with both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
The E-Raksha app is already available in some other districts in the state. Now, the Chittoor police are incorporating the app to school buses. The police can track the speed limit and automatically generate an e-challan for overspeeding school buses. This could be an innovative step for road safety. The installation charges may be not all that heavy, taking into account the safety of the vehicle. Installation costs around Rs 2,200 for a motorcycle and around Rs 3,500-Rs 5,000 for a two-wheeler.
After the installation of the GPS the police also chased down two stolen vehicles with the help of GPS. Most of the vehicle owners have expressed satisfaction as their vehicles are protected. Speaking to this newspaper, Chittoor district superintendent of police S.V. Rajashekar Babu said, “We are happy, as we are implementing new measures for safety of vehicles using technology. Chittoor district shares borders with other states.” He further admitted, “It would be difficult if the burglars shift the vehicles to other states. We are also working on implementing an ‘immobiliser’. As for school buses, we will monitor the school buses through e-Raksha, which will generate e-challans if they overspeed.”
