Chennai: The auto rickshaws in Tamil Nadu state will have GPS-enabled Meters with in the next eight months, the state government has submitted to high court even two years after the announcement.

The Tamil Nadu state government made an announcement on August 25, 2013 to install the GPS meters to registered Autos with free of cost in Chennai City to give a big relief for customers. GPS meters are designed to calculate the exact charge using GPS tracking and print the receipt.

The total estimated cost for the project was around 80.49 crore and government order to finish it by February 28, 2014 but the project is yet to become a reality. J Seshasayanam, state general secretary, Madras Metro Auto Drivers’s Association has filed a writ petition in Madras High Court to implement the GPS meters for autos immediately.

When the petition came up for hearing, the state government has already submitted that a 13 member committee has been created to prepare the technical specification for GPS enabled meters. The whole process has been handed over to ELCOT and tender has also been floated. Earlier the opening date of the tender was fixed to September 4 later it was postponed to October 7 due to large number of quires from the bidding companies.

The state government has submitted a report that, the tender process will be completed in the next two months and the successful tender will be granted six months’ time to implement the installation of the meters.

If everything goes as per plan, autos in Chennai city will have to ply by GPS enabled meters and issue printed receipts.