On the road with

Dar’Sel’Jamshedpur to Delhi

1-8 June, 2015

PART THIRTEEN

RAMESH KUMARChairperson,

KRK Foundation +Co-Founder,

Transport Mitra Services

You don’t need to be a Harvard don to claim people connect is most essential to succeed in anything. Pilots, leading a nomadic life most of their living, are thrilled to meet and interact with people they work for: fleet owners, supervisors etc. Particularly while they are on duty viz., on highways.

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Before calling it a day on Day 7, we find a large format fuel station of HPCL on the Allahabad Bypass (NH2) and the young Patil plays a perfect host. A local and the man in charge of this Company Owned Company Operated fuel pump is the only outlet on this stretch….

This pump’s blueprint, shared by HPCL, has a detailed planning for a proper large parking area for long haul truckers, rest room, eateries for pilots separately. HPCL COCO officer, informed about our arrival at this pump, interacts over phone to discuss joint action in driver welfare measures along with us. Many a time, the dealer at the outlet goes scot-free because oil marketing companies – be it IOC, HPCL or BPCL – do NOT pay adequate attention to supervising or managing driver rest room facilities created with tax payers’ money – that’s yours and mine. Everything is left to the discretion of dealer who converts such facilities into his own dumping yard. Don’t believe? On your next trip, check out!

Must tell you about the last night visit to Thakur Ka Dhaba at Bhindki, 40 km before Nagpur towards Delhi. This place, a favourite with truckers, looks like a great facility comparedto what we usually see on highways. Huge wooden cots for seating, eating and sleeping and to beat the scorching summer, huge desert coolers at both ends that services approx. 30-40 pilots at any point of time.

At the height of summer when mercury breaches 43 degrees Celsius plus and you’ve driven in such a terrific heat – add the engine heat inside the pilot cabin – for over 250 km in a day – Thakur Ka Dhaba at Bhindki is like an oasis. You park your vehicle at the spacious front yard, step out, wash, eat and step in for manpasand khana at affordable rate and then … hug Dame Sleep to beat fatigue. What more one can ask for?

What kind of medical help a long haul pilot is getting? Look at the kind of posters that are displayed at dhabas mostly. Some special powdered item to take care of his digestion or some pain relief from the poorly fabricated pilot seat in Indian trucks. Pilot comfort is the least priority for Indian HCV OEMs and fleet owners until recently. But things are changing of late! Though he (pilot) is vital from overall economic perspective, he is the most neglected entity!

Why pilots’ health is important from overall perspective? It’s a fact that …Indian trucks are not air-conditioned and hence they are supposed to drive in extreme hot conditions.Heat saps energy. A sweaty working condition irritates and affects work performance. Imagine yourself sitting in a fan-less or not centrally air conditioned office. Our – the so called white collar walas - own productivity will take a hit.Second, does he have a fixed lunch hour? Even raising a question like this is a joke. He has to find a suitable parking space before his hunger is doused. Not like you and I walking into the office canteen – subsidized or otherwise or stepping out for a sumptuous lunch at a restaurant. What does he eat? Roti, Daal, Onion and Mirchi. Lot of masala spiced sabzi or meat/mutton cooked in very unhygienic kitchen at dhabas. So food quality is a lot to be desired. What we eat, makes what we are. Where does he rest or sleep at night? Not in airconditioned bedroom or a ceiling with fan. But inside the constricted pilot cabin – ventilated or not. He is more worried about cargo and vehicle safety and hence avoids leaving his vehicle and going and sleeping in dhaba cots – another eyesore with smelly blankets and mostly his own bent arms as headrest. No pillows.

A medical clinic for pilots … One day mela!

When pilots don’t eat well and sleep well, fatigue is thenet result.Fatigue leads to restlessness and disturbed mindset.And …Disturbed mind results in highway mishaps.Add tension on highwaysSurreptitiously we dumped all our responsibilities on the so called uneducated and illiteratepilots asking him to fend forhimself once on highways. With bribe seeking highwayauthorities, police, tax authorities,pilots are always on tenterhooks.Tension is bad for health.If all these does not warrant a regular and proper medical check up, what else?Do we genuine care for pilots?If not, we MUST.After all, he is the LIFELINE for 1.2 billion mouths to be fed. 1.2 billion bodies to be clothed. So pilots healthcare is very important.

That night, we hit the bed at Jeet Dhaba, bang opposite Thakur Ka Dhaba. Jeet is another marvelous trucker-friendly dhaba. Why?

Look at this picture … Does it look like a trucker-dhaba? Yes, it is. At least, somebody thought these pilots deserve a ‘shandaar’ rest room. No oil marketing company’s approach. Genuine concern with a business focus. A big salute to Jeet dhaba at Bhindki…

Neat & Clean dhaba. Unusual. Darcl pilots’most favourite halting point, no wonder.

Gifting & sweet sharing