Global Positioning System-based 24-hour vehicle-tracking system will be the highlight of the Safe Zone project aimed at making over 400 km of roads leading to Sabarimala accident-free during the forthcoming Mandala-Makaravilakku season.
With this, all classes of vehicles bringing Ayyappa devotees can be tracked from the main control room at Elavumkal near Nilackal on the Pathanamthitta-Pampa main trunk road and two other sub-control rooms at Erumely and Murinjupura, near Kuttikanam.
Twenty-four GPS-equipped vehicles of the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) will provide feed to the three control rooms. Real-time vehicle monitoring using GPS was used on an experimental basis as part of Safe Zone in Sabarimala last year.
In addition, MVD’s 14 squads will patrol the roads leading to Pampa round the clock starting from November 15 to avoid accidents and breakdown of vehicles. The MVD vehicles will be equipped with camera, wireless sets of the police, and a few with speed radars to book speeding vehicles.
50-member squad
At the main control room, a 50-member squad of all the major vehicle manufacturers will be stationed with vans and spare parts to repair vehicles.
Being executed by the Kerala Road Safety Authority and the MVD, the government has provided Rs.71.46 lakh for the Safe Zone project this year. S. Ananthakrishnan, Road Safety Commissioner, who is also the State Transport Commissioner, visited Elavumkal and Erumely on Friday to review the progress of the works.
The MVD is installing location boards with helpline numbers on both the Sabarimala roads.
Mr. Ananthakrishnan has written to the Transport Commissioner and Transport Secretaries of other States, requesting them to advise devotees to use good vehicles and employ experienced drivers for the pilgrimage and to not come in goods carriers, two-wheelers, and autorickshaws.
