The Indian Express, Dec. 19th 2003
MADURAI,DEC.19.No more candrivers of the Madurai-tion Watre tankers deviate from the fixed routes.The localbodytoday Went hi-tech,installing global positioning system(GPS) devices to keep a tad on the movement of tankers and gardage vehicles.
The passive vehicle tracking system,which works offline,canregister the veceiving signal from the satellites.Apart from the location of vehicle,the route taken,its speed,actual distance traveled,number of stoppages made and duration of each halts can be re-trieved from the `black box`device kept in lock and key in the vehicles,using computer.
The private software developer has duplicated the city roads and important landamarks along with the corporation water filling ponts, vehicle dopot,gardage collection points and dumping yards in a digital map.The logbook,maintained by the drivers,which could be easily manipulated,would hereafter be verified with the details of the black box,by playing it on the computer.
The salient feature of the system is that it can record the movement for every single second and also pinpoint deviations,if any,made by the driver from the selected route or spot,if the difference is more than 20metres"Now the drivers will be caught red-handed if they make halts at unauthorized places for supplying water,"the corporation commissioner,A.Karthik,said.The local body was also expected to make drastic cut onitsfuel consumption as the GPS would ensure that the drivers avoid circutitous routes,but take the shortes can store the confinguration and the same could bereviewed at periodical intervals."Any attempts made to tamper wath the device will also getstored in italong with time and location, for which the driver is accountable."Mr.Karthik said.The same system could be used on hired vehicles also and paymentsfor their services would bemade based on the data produced by the GPS devices rather than the manual log books.
The Mayor,C.Ramachandran,today inaugurated the GPS system flagging off the lorries with the devicesinstalled.Initially,20devices,each costing Rs.14,500,have been installed in as many vehicles,including earthmovers and tipper lorries.
Several councilors in the past made allegations against officials of "misappropriation"of corpration funds through "misuse of tankers and tipper lorries" that do not follow the stipulated regulations.
"The constant electronic monitoring will instill a moral fear among the driversand discourage them from indulging in irreguiarities,"the commissioner said.
Once all marriage halls, hotels and lodges are brought on the digital map,no driver will dare to make "llegal" halts there,as now there is a third eye watching them.
