BENGALURU: The State Government on Wednesday informed the Karnataka High Court that the National Informatics Centre (NIC) created a database to incorporate the Global Positioning System (GPS) component as one of the parameters for new ambulances being registered on Vahan 4.0 portal.
This provision was made at the request of the Transport department, following directions issued by the high court so that movement of ambulances can be tracked to clear traffic during a medical emergency.
The government has stated that if GPS is not fitted, an alert message is displayed, but will not stop the registration workflow. It is up to the discretion of the transport department if the ambulance should be registered with or without a GPS device.
This feature is now enabled in Vahan, and after verification and providing training to all Regional Transport Officers (RTOs), it will be rolled out throughout the state. An affidavit was filed to that effect by the state government before the division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Ashok S Kinagi, in response to directions issued in the public interest litigation filed by Bharat Punaruthana Trust, seeking directions to evolve an advance ambulance service mechanism to save lives during a medical emergency.