MANGALORE: The Mangalore City Corporation’s vehicles used in electrical and underground drainage (UGD) sections are tracked. The initiative – vehicle tracking system or geo-fencing – is helping authorities keep tabs on as many as 20 vehicles used in these sections. With the installation of global position system (GPS) on these vehicles, MCC officials are monitoring their movement online on real time basis.
Of the 20 vehicles 16 are used in the electrical section and four in UGD section.
With plans afoot to extend this system to vehicles deployed by contractors in the eight packages under its solid waste management plan, the city corporation intends to cover an additional 25 vehicles used in the plan. Under the plan The main use of the concept will come in the plan where all municipal solid waste management (SWM) vehicles will be fitted with GPS device. Every movement of these vehicles along with their working can be monitored.
If any of these vehicles are found crossing the city corporation borders, an SMS alert will be sent to the official concerned, immediately. The advantage of fencing vehicles geographically with use of GPS will ensure that the civic body’s land fill site at Pachchanady on the city’s outskirts will receive only the 200 tonnes of solid waste generated across 60 wards in the city and not from other urban local bodies, which can put pressure on the space there.
The city corporation on Sunday floated bids to provide on hire basis offsite real time monitoring system, vehicle tracking system and SMS based public grievance redressal system towards monitoring the city corporation’s municipal solid waste.
K Harish Kumar, MCC commissioner, said the advantage of geo-fencing is multifarious and will help the civic body keep tabs on what the vehicles hired by it for these sections are doing at all times.
Manjunath Shetty, environment engineer, said with the implementation of geo-fencing, officials can also monitor fuel consumption of the vehicles hired by the civic body. “There is less chance of pilferage of fuel from these vehicles. With the start and stop time of each vehicle at the exact locations easily known, contractors do not have the scope to divert corporation vehicles to source solid waste in private and then transport it to the Pachchanady landfill site,” he added.
