AHMEDABAD: Chief minister Bhupendra Patel had launched a vehicle location tracking system (VLTS) on June 5 to prevent environmental pollution due to hazardous industrial wastes. Industrial units would generate hazardous waste manifest system to treat and dispose the waste but now it will be done through the VLTS.
Vehicles carrying industrial waste will be tracked through global positioning system (GPS). Currently, 700 trucks in Gujarat are equipped with this AIS 140 compliant GPS system of which, real time monitoring of 377 trucks has begun. In the coming days, remaining vehicles too will be tracked through VLTS system. At present, 600 trucks dispose of hazardous waste daily.
What is VLTS?
VLTS are commonly used for fleet tracking, dispatching, security, or other purposes in order to monitor and change routes for varied reasons. However, industrial units in the recent past too have started using such tracking systems for off-site treatment or recycling of hazardous wastes and also to ensure accountability for the transportation of the same.
Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) partnered with National Informatics Centre (NIC), Gandhinagar, and NIC Uttarakhand to create a VLTS module for Gujarat. This newly built system is being aligned with the existing online manifest system. Moreover, GPCB has made it mandatory for industries transporting hazardous waste to install GPS of AIS 140 in all vehicles.
A control room is being prepared to monitor vehicles transporting hazardous waste to ensure that the waste reaches its designated facility. Routes for disposal have to be determined in advance by the industries and if a vehicle changes its path or drives to another location, the system will alert and prompt action will be taken against illegal dumping units.
In a nutshell, the VLTS system will enable tracking of hazardous waste from industrial units by disposing it to the final disposal or reuse facility. This will make waste management system more efficient.
Awareness programmes have also been conducted across the state for its implementation. Currently 21,341 industries in Gujarat generate hazardous waste. The hazardous waste generated from them is segregated into different categories and destroyed. Proper training and guidance are being provided to the industries regarding the use of the new system.
