The Indian government will move forward with an Rs 1,405 crore (approximately $226 million) project to install CCTV’s and GPS systems on public buses in hopes of improving safety for female travelers.
The new system will track and monitor public transportation as well as provide panic buttons that directly alert law enforcement, leading to a faster overall response time.
The project will be implemented in two phases over a two year period with 32 cities installing the GPS systems, panic buttons, and CCTV’s during the first phase and 21 cities implementing the changes during the second.
The project comes on the heels of several highly publicized crimes against women. Most notably, the case of a 23-year-old paramedic who was gang-raped by six men on a moving bus in New Delhi in December 2012 and ultimately died from injuries suffered during the attack.