KARACHI, July 18: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad has given approval to the Vehicle Monitoring and Interception System, a project designed and developed by the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra). The project, aimed at checking vehicle-lifting, will be implemented in the metropolis over the next three months. The approval came at a meeting at the Governor’s House here on Monday. It was presided over by the governor and attended by officials of Nadra, various provincial departments and representatives of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee.

According to Governor House officials, Dr Ibad directed the participants to put in their best efforts to implement the system within the stipulated time.

According to the plan, the Sindh home department will supervise the system while police, in coordination with the CPLC, will implement the same. The IGP has been directed to appoint a project director for the purpose.

The governor expressed his reservations over the fee fixed for the registration of motorcycles under the system. He said that the fee should not exceed Rs300. However, the fee for other vehicles was fixed at Rs1,000 as suggested originally. The registration fee will be one-time payment to be made at the time of registration with the VMIS.

The governor also impressed upon the participants of the meeting that once the system activated in the given period, they should ensure availability of the monitoring chip, called ‘VINTAG’ to vehicle-owners.

He was informed that the system would initially be introduced in Karachi and extended to the entire province gradually. He was told that Nadra would spend Rs578 million on the system installation. In the first phase, 19 check-posts would be established, 10 of them fixed and the rest mobile ones. Three control centres would also be set up to check and monitor movement of vehicles.

The project was originally given the name of ‘Vehicle Identification and Tracking System (VITS), but during the meeting, it was changed to ‘Vehicle Monitoring and Interception System’. It is a ground-based tracking system which will not only provide the law-enforcement authorities with the information about movement of vehicles but also help them regulate and manage traffic flow during peak hours and, more importantly, in an emergency situation.

According to Nadra, initially the city would have 20 points from where VINTAG chip will be issued to vehicle-owners and at each of the outlet will have the capacity of registering approximately 1,000 vehicles a day. The number of vehicles in the city is put at 1.2 million. It has been estimated that all vehicles existing in the province could be got registered in a matter of four-five months.

The chip will be issued to a vehicle-owner having CNIC and documents of his vehicle in his own name. It will not be issued to those having the vehicles with open letters.

It would be mandatory for every vehicle-owner to get a chip for his vehicle. All check-posts at major bridges and entry/exit points of towns would be equipped with trans-receivers and antennas to monitor movement of every vehicle and go through its data. A suspected car without a chip will be identified by the system instantly.

The meeting was attended, among others, by Adviser to the CM on Excise and Taxation M. A. Jalil, Chief Secretary Asad Jehangir, Secretary Excise and Taxation Mir Hussain Ali, Additional Home Secretary Rasheed Alam, Chief of the CPLC Sharfuddin Memon and Nadra Chairman Saleem Moin.