Trucks, lorries: india
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Bribes paid by Truckers, owners
Rs 48,000 crore in 2019
Dipak Dash, Truckers, owners pay ₹48k cr/yr in bribes, February 29, 2020: The Times of India
Truck drivers and fleet owners shell out around Rs 48,000 crore annually as bribes to traffic or highway police, besides personnel from the transport and tax departments, according to a study carried out across 10 major transport and transit hubs. Even local groups like “puja samitis” extort from truckers before allowing them to cross informal checkposts, with a quarter of the drivers paying them cash.
The study by SaveLife Foundation, a not-for-profit entity, claimed that over 82% respondents had admitted to having bribed “officials of one or the other department on the road” during their last trip, revealing the rampant corruption in the sector. The survey findings are based on detailed interviews of 1,217 truckers and 110 fleet owners.
Guwahati heads graft list, followed by Chennai & Delhi
Overall, the amount paid as bribe for every trip to various authorities was estimated at Rs 1,257.
The report released by junior minister for road transport V K Singh claimed that at an all-India level, two-thirds (67%) of the drivers admitted to having bribed traffic or highway police personnel on the road.
Among the select transport hubs, Guwahati had the worst indicator where 97.5% of drivers claimed that they had paid bribes, followed by Chennai (89%) and Delhi (84.4%). For truckers, bribing RTO officials was also found be an unwritten norm, with nearly 44% respondents at all these hubs confirming the same. In Bengaluru, their share was 94%, followed by 93.4% in Guwahati. The report has also cited examples of how government officials deployed on the roads devised mechanisms, such as issuing special slips to drivers after collecting the bribe amount. They just needed to show the slip at the next checkpost for smooth passage.
The report has exposed how a large share of drivers (47%) admitted to having paid bribes for renewal of their driving licences. The maximum, nearly 93%, of the respondents from Mumbai claimed that they had to pay a bribe for this, followed by Guwahati (83%) and nearly 78% respondents from Delhi-NCR made similar claims. While on an average a driver paid Rs 1,789 for renewal of licence, in Delhi the bribe amount was the maximum at Rs 2,025. Even 43% of the fleet owners claimed to have paid bribes (average of Rs 1,360) to the transport department for registration of their vehicles.
Truck drivers
Working conditions
Dipak Dash, Truck drivers spend 12hrs/day behind the wheel, February 29, 2020: The Times of India
Nearly 84% truck drivers don’t want their family members or relatives to take up driving as a profession and about 53% of them are unhappy with their work, a new study by SaveLife Foundation has found. It also claimed that over one-fifth of the drivers in this survey admitted taking drugs to ease fatigue and sleepiness while on a trip.
The report indicates that there would be a serious shortage of drivers, if this trend continues. An industry estimate suggests that by 2022 the driver and truck ratio would have fallen to 450 drivers for every 1,000 trucks. The survey findings were released on Friday by MoS (road transport and highways) Gen V K Singh and highlighted the plight of truck drivers across the country. Nearly 48% of the respondents rated their working condition as bad. About 41% of truck drivers fear they could be the target of insults and bad language while dealing with police or other law enforcing authorities, the study has found.
According to the report, paltry and irregular income, no social security cover, poor family life and low social reputation are the main reasons why truck drivers are unhappy with their profession. Citing the stress that comes with spending nearly 12 hours a day on the driver’s seat, most of the respondents said they feel fatigued or sleepy.
“On an average, each driver drives for about11.9 hours in a day. In terms of average distance covered, a truck driver covers about 417 km daily. About 49% of the respondent drivers said they drive vehicles even if they are feeling fatigued or sleepy,” the report titled “Status of Truck Drivers in India” said. The sample survey covered truck drivers from Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kanpur, Vijayawada and Guwahati.
City-wise, proportion of drivers using drugs while on trip was more than 50% in Kolkata, Kanpur and Delhi-NCR. SaveLife Foundation CEO, Piyush Tiwari said the report has highlighted the need to address the concern of drivers, who play a key role in the country’s economy and logistics sector. Most of them get paid between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 a month, which is even lower than the minimum wages in several states.
