Anxious transporters and farmers in Himachal Pradesh will now be able to keep track of trucks carrying their goods via the Internet.

"The truck-khoj.com website has entered Himachal Pradesh for the service of transporters and farmers to monitor the location of their trucks by the hour," said Manish Kapoor, project leader of Keybell Solutions.

"The company has entered at a time when the apple harvest has begun and hundreds of trucks leave the state borders each day till October," said Kapoor.

He said the company had already started booking customers who would be able to access information about trucks carrying their produce from the time the vehicles leave the orchard till they reach the market anywhere in India.

This innovative vehicle tracking system works on an interactive smart card-based system and the Internet.

The company provides each member truck's driver a smart card containing information about the vehicle's identity.

"The moment the driver displays the card at terminals installed at truck bays, eating places, petrol pumps and checkposts on national and state highways, this information will be made available through the server both online and offline," explained C.R. Azta, another official of the company.

"We're even encouraging truck crews to flash these cards by offering attractive prizes to the drivers," he said.

Persons not having online access can contact company offices in Shimla and other places to get the latest.

In the absence of railways and airways, trucks are virtually the only way of transporting goods in this hill state. Breakdowns, accidents and even thefts are common and not known for days. Not any more.