Hyderabad Police Say New 'VIP Movement' Plan Will End Traffic Hold-Ups

Hyderabad: Hyderabad currently serves as the capital of two states and that means two chief ministers, many ministers and a governor whizzing down its roads at any given time, apart from visiting dignitaries. The city's traffic police says it will soon have in place a green channel to ensure that "VIP movement" does not inconvenience citizens.

They propose to install Radio Frequency Identification or RFID and Global Positioning Systems or GPS in the cars of the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the Governor, the deputy chief ministers and home minister, the Speaker, the state's Chief Justice and in the vehicles that the Prime Minister and President will use when they visit Hyderabad.

In all, said senior police officer AV Ranganath, about 25 vehicles would be fitted with the equipment, which would include a transmitter that would connect it with traffic junctions and police control rooms.

As the vehicle will approach the traffic signal, it will be changed, automatically or manually, to give it clear passage, while traffic from all other directions will be stopped for less than a minute.

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This system will also allow the police control room to guide these vehicles and even ambulances to alternate routes when there is a traffic jam, Mr Ranganath said. Ambulances will also have RFID and GPS, and will be guided by the police control room about alternate routes during an emergency.

This, he said, will ensure that the public is not made to wait for five or ten minutes while there is what is called "VIP movement."

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The Hyderabad police say they have already tested the system "on an experimental basis" for a month at five traffic junctions.

"When funds come in we intend to cover a larger area,'' Mr Ranganath said. Tenders are yet to be floated. The money for the project will come out of the funds set aside for innovation. The estimated cost is 50 lakh rupees. The Telangana government pays for it.