PANAJI: The Union government has had second thoughts on the move to mandatorily install Global Positioning System ( GPS ) tracking devices and panic buttons on transport vehicles this year, and has now delayed the implementation of the safety devices to April 2019. The Union ministry of roads transport and highways, in a circular issued on April 20, is said to have informed state transport authorities of its decision to advance the deadline by a year.A gazette notification of MORTH made it mandatory for all transport vehicles to install AIS140 GPS tracking devices by April 1, this year. However, confusion over the implementation of the Union ministry’s directive has prompted the Centre to change the deadline, sources said.“The deadline has been deferred because none of the states were ready,” director of transport, Nikhil Dessai said. Following the Union government’s notification, the Goa government had issued a request for proposal from qualified companies for supply, maintenance and installation of GPS tracking devices that could transmit the vehicle’s location to a central server.“The GPS should be able to transmit the location to a central server. There is no point in installing a GPS device if there is nobody to monitor it. Ultimately, the vehicle has to be monitored,” Dessai said.Officials said that during a meeting in New Delhi, MORTH took a review of the efforts made by every state to implement the project. Several states raised concerns and sought more time to implement the ambitious project. Immediately after the central government issued a notification, the transport department and Goa Electronics Limited (GEL) invited interested companies to take up the project. “We are now towards closing the tender, and GEL will be developing the network to set up the server and data relay. We may be the first state in the country to achieve this,” Dessai said.“Once the party is finalised, we will ask them to begin installing the devices on trucks and other vehicles. Now that the deadline is shifted, it will give us more time to organise ourselves,” Dessai said.

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