There has been a 95 per cent drop in cases of theft of apples during transportation in Himachal Pradesh's Shimla district after GPS was installed in vehicles ferrying the fruit, a police official said.

Earlier, on an average, 20-25 cases of such thefts were registered during the apple season between July and October in the district, Shimla Superintendent of Police (SP) Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi said.

This season (last year) just one case was registered and "this is a 95 per cent drop in cases", he said. The installation of the global positioning system (GPS) in vehicles that transport apples such as trucks and pick-up vans has acted as an effective measure to thwart thefts, Gandhi said.

This result was achieved after only GPS-enabled vehicles were registered for inter-state transportation of apples last year with police having access to GPS devices, the SP said.

Even in that one case of theft registered last year, the cargo of apples was traced because the vehicle had GPS and police access to the system, Gandhi said.

The installation of GPS was undertaken by the Shimla Police last year under the "apple on wheels" initiative, which aimed at reducing road accidents and ensuring safe and secure transportation of the fruit during the apple season, Gandhi said.

There are 15,265 GPS-enabled vehicles, including 6,675 pickups, 6,618 trucks and 1,972 trallas, for apple transportation in the district, he said.

The apple industry in Himachal Pradesh is valued at more than Rs 5,000 crore, and, according to police data, in the last five years, around 100 apple-laden trucks were stolen while on way to their destinations.

Besides curbing thefts, police in Shimla district under its "apple on wheels" initiative also focused on awareness and not punishment to reduce road accidents and also gave on-the-spot traffic lessons to drivers.

There was a 45 per cent drop in the number of challans issued during the 2023 apple season in Shimla district as compared to the 2022 season. There was also a decline of 15 per cent in road accidents, according to police data.

Thirty-three people were killed and 132 injured in 83 accidents during the apple season in 2023 as compared to 70 deaths and 259 injuries in 148 accidents in 2022.

Safety measures such as identifying accident prone areas, installing signages at black spots and cracking down on drunk driving were also undertaken, police said.

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