The Hindu Business Line : Truckers can now handle burden better

The next time you encounter a driver at the wheel of a heavy vehicle, think twice before you label him as an unruly motorist looking to break traffic rules. With such private players as Ashok Leyland and logistics and courier companies such as Safexpress and DRS Group entering the training space for truckers, the industry is expecting to see some signs of positive change.

One of the country’s leading heavy vehicle manufacturers, Ashok Leyland trains around 20,000 truck drivers every year through its institute in Namakkal, Tamil Nadu. The company has also trained 29,000 drivers at its Burari campus, near Delhi, that came up in 2005 with the support of land from the Government of the National Capital Region of Delhi.

Discussing the method of training in the institute, a senior official said: “A driver is made to go through all kinds of situations that he may encounter in real life while on the road. The training is a mix of classroom lessons and practical training, for which the institute is well-equipped.”

Established in 1995, the Ashok Leyland Driver Training Centre has trained around 1.79 lakh drivers till December 2007. Spread over 25 acres, the campus has comprehensive infrastructure facilities, including a driving range with various configurations of roads.

Training courses

Among the facilities, the driving range consists of single-lane, two-lane, four-lane and six-lane roads, ‘S’ bends, ‘8’ bends and hair-pin bends, humps and dips with different gradients, speed-breakers, bye-pass road, ‘Y’ junction and others. It also consists of different types of parking bays, and basic and variable yards.

“There are courses for new entrants and then especially designed programmes for drivers who want refresher training,” said the official. The subjects offered in the institute range from defensive driving techniques, fuel conservation techniques and the basics of repairs and maintenance to first aid, fire-fighting, AIDS and stress management.

Apart from regular driving, the institute also offers training in handling of hazardous goods, for which around 1.2 lakh drivers have been trained.

Companies such as DRS Group, the operators of Agarwal Packers and Movers, are adopting innovative strategies to train their drivers. The company, for example, has identified exclusive brand ambassadors who help members of their peer group learn and promote cordial behaviour and safe driving.

“We have a total of 10 brand ambassadors who teach road safety norms through workshops, which are conducted on regular basis at our godowns in Gurgaon and Hyderabad,” said Mr A. K. Agarwal, Director of DRS Group.

Changing profile

Another interesting change that the trucking industry is seeing is in the profile of the drivers. More educated persons, in fact, even graduates, are now looking to enter this profession.

According to Mr Vineet Kanaujia, General Manager, Safexpress: “These days, companies are looking for drivers with educational backgrounds. This ensures that the drivers abide by the company norms, are socially more responsible, can handle emergencies, have a good driving sense and can understand the documentation details required at State entry points.”

Safexpress also organises workshop for the induction of truck drivers.

The training takes place at various franchisee set-ups of the company present across India.

The training is imparted before the truck drivers begin operating on the routes. As regards mode of training, Mr Kanaujia says: “Our drivers work in shifts and, therefore, we do not encounter any trouble in training them. Special care is taken that, every six months, a refresher class is arranged to augment their understanding of rules and regulations. This also helps in reviewing and enhancing the drivers’ rules and regulations compliance status.”

However, not all is hunky dory for the road transport sector. According to a KPMG report published last September, the number of medium to heavy commercial vehicles on road by 2010 would be 23,72,000, for which 35,57,000 truck drivers would be needed. The number of new truck drivers required would be 1,85,000 by 2010, growing to 2,41,000 by 2015.

INDUSTRY GROWTH

As the official from Ashok Leyland puts it: “Given the unorganised nature of the truck drivers community it is a difficult task to train them. Not many transporters are comfortable with the idea of taking the onus of training their truck drivers because of the high attrition rates.

Also, having a driver is more important for most, whether he is trained or educated is not a big criterion.” He added that 90 per cent of the people coming for training come on their own.

Even the industry players are sceptical. Says Mr Kanaujia: “The transport industry is currently witnessing robust growth. It grew at 12 per cent in FY07. Estimates suggest that the growth of vehicles will be around 15 per cent per year for the next 10 years. At present, for every 10 trucks, the industry has nine drivers. This is nowhere close to the required numbers. Ideally, every truck should have at least two drivers.”

However, with the pay-scales for truck drivers currently ranging between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000, and the adoption of new technology through tracking devices such as GPS, mobile tracking, etc., the industry players are confident of more skilled drivers joining the profession.

A lot more needs to be done from the Government side too. Despite the Centre’s promise of setting up truck driver training institutes on all National Highways, the work has not taken off on the projects. According to the official from Ashok Leyland, the Government is spending around Rs 35,000 crore annually on account of insurance compensation for road accidents.

More Stories on : Human Resources | Roadways

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