On January 5, Ashok Khemka, Transport Commissioner of Haryana, tweeted: “60% of road accidents due to overloaded and over-sized transport vehicles. Industry cooperation needed to stop this road menace.”
A week later, on January 13, the whistleblower in the Robert Vadra-DLF land case shot off a letter to auto majors such as Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, and Maruti Suzuki, which have factories in Haryana, asking them to adhere to the Central Motor Vehicle Rules for the trucks they use to transport vehicles.
The letter, as confirmed by multiple industry sources to
Pointing to India’s poor road safety record, Khemka urged the auto majors to stop seeking exemption from dimension norms as the use of larger was a safety hazard. India accounts for 6 per cent of the world’s road accidents and 10 per cent of fatalities, he added.
“Blatant violations of statutory provisions concerning road safety are not tolerated in any developed country... The automobile manufacturers have a moral and legal duty to society to ensure that the body of transport vehicle engaged is not outsized… As a corporate conscious of its legal obligations and social responsibilities, I request you to take proactive steps so that the need to exempt overall dimensions does not arise ..,” said Khemka’s letter, adding that efforts are being made with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to relax the overall dimension of truck bodies.
Almost 80 per cent of trucks used to ferry cars are registered in Haryana, said SP Singh, Senior Fellow, Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training.
Fitness certificatesMotor vehicle rules limit the size of vehicles from a safety perspective. However, auto-makers and transport firms periodically seek exemption from the norms specified in Rule 93 so as to ply over-sized trucks.
In mid-December 2014, the Haryana government stopped renewing fitness certificates for trucks that did not adhere to the dimension norm. Transporters threatened a strike. Last month, the Director General of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers approached the Haryana Chief Minister, seeking fitness certificates for vehicles that did not conform to the norms.
The Haryana government relented and gave a one-year exemption. For new vehicles, it meant a 24-month reprieve, as they need fitness certificates only after two years.
Industry viewAuto-makers, however, blame truckers. “In order to fit more vehicles or two-wheelers in a single truck, transporters are flouting the law,” an industry veteran said.
SP Singh, however, questions this defence. “If the issue lay with transporters, how come the manufacturers’ body went to negotiate with the Haryana Chief Minister seeking exemption? The manufacturers can always make it a part of their tender condition while appointing transporters,” he added.
Another executive of a two-wheeler firm said: “The dimensions have to be followed by transporters, as the manufacturers don’t own the trucks.”
Interestingly, Khemka claims in his letter to corporates that in the joint meeting, the representative of Hero MotoCorp said the design for the truck body is provided by the company. The truckers said that over-dimensional truck bodies enable them to transport double the number of vehicles, his letter added.