To ensure safety, tourist taxis to have movement-tracking electronic chips

New Delhi, Nov 12: Government is planning to make tourist taxis more secure by installing electronic chips to track their movement in the wake of strong concerns voiced over safety following the rape and murder of a Delhi-based woman tourist and killing of her male friend while on a trip to Dehradun.

New Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma, who assumed charge today, said that such measures would help protecting both domestic and international tourists.

"The first check point is that after tourists disembark at our airports, we will give them the option of travelling by chip enabled taxis, which would be secured. The complete bio-data of the taxi drivers would be available with us. It would be implemented in three months," he told reporters here.

Stating that it would help to keep track of the movement of tourist taxis, he said steps would be taken to ensure that these taxis are not cheating and over charging tourists. "We will request tourists to use these taxis. We would also ensure that they do not cheat and over charge the tourists," Sharma added. Tough action against touts, setting up tourist facility centres and launching heli-service are some of the priorities also underlined by the new Minister.

Seeking cooperation and suggestions from all concerned, Sharma promised to take tourism to "a new high". "There will be tough action against touts who are found harassing tourists coming from outside. It will not be tolerated," he said. There have been several complaints of tourists, particularly foreigners, being fleeced by touts operating at airports and various tourist spots.

PTI