Bengaluru: The State Government informed the State High Court on Wednesday January 11 that the National Informatics Centre (NIC) developed a database to include the Global Positioning System (GPS) component as one of the criteria for new ambulances being registered on the Vahan 4.0 portal.
The provision was added at the request of the Transport Department by following the High Court’s orders so that the movement of ambulances can be tracked and traffic could be cleared in the case of a medical emergency.
According to the government, the registration process will continue even if a GPS device is not fitted. The transport division will decide whether or not to register the ambulance with a GPS device.
The GPS feature has been enabled in Vahan and will be implemented across the State after being verified and given to all Regional Transport Officers (RTOs). The State Government made a statement in this regard in an affidavit submitted to the division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale and Justice Ashok S. Kinagi in response to the court’s directives in the public litigation case filed by the Bharat Punaruthana Trust, which asked for guidance on how to develop an advance ambulance service system to save lives in an emergency.
