HIGHWAYS CRIME of Hindustan Lever Goods-4

(Fleet owner Ramrattan Singhi coming out of Kundli Police Station, Haryana to check the fate of his Zero FIR filed at this police station. He has been told that the Zero FIR has been sent to Superintendent of Police, Uttrakhand)

 
26 February 2017

Mr Nitin Gadkari
Minister for Road Transport & Highways
Govt of India

Sub: Highways Crime - Driver Safety & Driver Shortage

Sir,

Greetings.

You've been regularly raising the critical issue of Road Safety as well as the 22% driver shortage in the country which would be detrimental to the growth prospects of our economy.

In this regard, wish to bring to your notice the prevalence of highways heist (hijacking, looting and killing of drivers even) on Indian highways.

Recently, a long haul truck driver ferrying Hindustan Lever's cosmetics from its Haridwar plant to Chennai as stock transfer was waylaid in Uttar Pradesh (10 February 2017).

Driver Yunis Khan was drugged and demobilised for 14 hours and the entire Rs.65 lakhs material was looted. This is not the solitary case. Over the past year, many such Hindustan Lever vehicles have been looted in this fashion.

Besides Hindustan Lever, many companies also have faced this kind of highway heists.

Safety of long haul truck drivers is a key concern. This needs special attention to prevent such crimes happening on Indian highways via better highway patrolling. Plus comes the issue of filing of FIR, another pain area for transporters.

All these, Sir, makes the job of truck drivers very painful. Given this kind of life-snatching risks, very few wish to take up truck driving as a career.

Sir, this situation assumes importance in the light of the fact that you have been talking about 22% driver shortage in India.

Therefore, we seek your indulgence to improve safety of cargo, vehicle and drivers - need not be in the same order - as early as possible.
Many companies, including Hindustan Lever, DO NOT take "transit insurance" for the materials ferried and pass on the buck to transporters. If at all it claims its transport pricing is inclusive of "transit insurance" it is pure hogwash. The  company, it is felt, is taking undue advantage of demand-supply mismatch of trucks  plying on Indian highways. Its load plan of roping the cheapest fleet owner is worth looking into, which is a pure eye-wash towards safety aspect of cargo, vehicle and driver.

This needs your attention to make transit  insurance of material ferried MANDATORY to safeguard all stakeholders' interests. We are taking up this issue with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs as well.

Seeking your indulgence in this issue at the earliest.

Cheers
Ramesh Kumar
Editor - DRIVERS DUINIYA
Delhi

copy to
Mr Arun Jaitley, Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Govt of India
Mr S K Mittal, President, AIMTC
Mr Channa Reddy, President, ACOGOA
Mr Ramesh Agarwal, President, AITWA