AP unveils safe travel project for women and children

The project called Abhayam tracks autorickshaws used by the public with gadgets and there's a panic button to alert law enforcement in the event of trouble during the travel.

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday inaugurated the Abhayam project, a state-based Internet of thing (IoT) project aimed at making travelling for women and children safer across the state.

Andhra police and transport officials have come together under this project to provide complete protection to travellers and under the Abhayam project autorickshaws will be connected with the IoT devices that would enable them to be tracked and monitored by state agencies.

The driver behaviour will also be monitored and if in case, during the journey, the passenger feels unsafe, she can press the panic button. It will alert the police control room immediately which in turn will alert the nearest police station.

Currently, on an experimental basis, Abhayam gadgets are fixed in 2000 autorickshaws at various locations across Visakhapatnam and around one lakh more gadgets are to be fixed across the state.

The project will ensure that all the autorickshaws are under police monitoring and the control room will get complete details such as the time, direction and location of the travel autos.

The police will also have control of the engine of the autos, that they may switch on and off as felt necessary by them in case of anything illegal.

Abhayam Kiosk gets a unique number

All the Abhaya kiosk being offered free to the auto drivers will be given a separate serial number making it easier for the police to get its details.

The transport officials are also arranging special driving licenses - by adding markings and serial number in place of the old ones - to the auto drivers under this project.

Welcoming the project, the auto drivers said the kiosk will help prevent auto theft and is helpful, however, they request the government to fix the Abhaya meters quickly as right now, it takes a whole day and they end up not earning at all.

"The kiosk was fixed to my auto and I had stay for a day at the transport office. If they fix the same immediately the drivers will not lose income," K Rama Rao, auto driver said.

Shaik Rahman, auto union general secretary, Visakhapatnam said that in case the travellers presses the panic button unnecessarily, the autos will have to wait for hours. So there's a need for checking technical snags.