E-tracking system for vehicles launched in Trichy

An e-tracking system to record details about motor vehicles, like the registration number, owners' name and address, and engine and chassis number, through a computer data base, was inaugurated in the city recently.

M S Jaffar Sait, inspector general of police, central zone, said that the system would reduce delay in verifying details. This would enable the public to easily verify with the police all details about a vehicle in the case of an accident or thefts or even before purchasing a pre-owned vehicle, he said.

Named 'Smart' the software for the facility was developed by the students of IIT, Madras. The Tamil Nadu police, in collaboration with the State Transport Ministry and Road Transport Authority, has created a comprehensive database which would record various details about the vehicles plying across the state.

There were over 40 lakh motor vehicles in the state and the authorities would update the database everyday, he added.

With the installation of a 20GB server in Chennai, which is networked to computers located in Trichy, the control room would be able to obtain the data instantly and pass them to the public either by fax or over telephone.

He also said that the central zone police were able to track 20 vehicles with bogus registration when the scheme was being deployed on a trial basis for three days.

The system would be very handy in tracking stolen vehicles, he said. Soon, the system would be upgraded so that the public would be able to access the details through SMS. The police department was in negotiation with various service providers for this scheme, he added.

Jaffar Sait also inaugurated an oxygen parlour in the city where traffic police personnel could get a whiff of fresh air during their working schedules.