Over 6 Crore Kg Reduction In CO2 Emissions Annually Through Our Training In Fuel Efficiency: Kaushik Sinha, Magma
On 22nd August, Magma Fincorp Ltd, a premier Mumbai based NBFC along with Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA), a Government of India body, announced the successful completion of the first phase of Highway Heroes, a CSR programme where they trained over 1 lakh truck drivers. The movement initiated in 2015 was launched to achieve three unique feats- reducing environment pollution, increasing fuel efficiency and profitability of the truckers’ community and imparting safe driving skills.
The press meet was addressed by Mr. Alok Tripathi, Executive Director, PCRA and Mr. Kaushik Sinha, Vice President - Communications, CSR & Admin at Magma Fincorp Ltd.
In the first phase, permanent Porta cabins and E-toilets have been installed in 8 high traffic transport nagars across the country. The Porta Cabins are being used to hold workshops for drivers on improving driving habits for better mileage and fuel conservation and their regular medical checkup and posture correction. Over 60,000 drivers have benefitted directly through the medical camps conducted in these porta cabins.
“PCRA has played a stellar role in this project, helping create the content, executing training and making sure that the training done is being used by the truck drivers”, said Mr Sinhha, adding that “in the past 27 months we have been running this project in 16 states, and have reached 1,00,699 drivers who have been trained under this initiative.”
Mr Sinha, added that “Through this initiative, we are training on safe driving skills, on how to maintain the vehicle, and how to increase profitability of the driver from the point of view of fuel conservation, as India is not a fuel producing country, we are dependent on imports.”
With respect to the training camps, Mr Sinha said, “We have environmental and health aspects as well, the truck drivers are on the road for 15-20 days a month, they have various health issues, especially since they are traveling across different geographical regions with different climates. They have eye-sight problems, posture related problems, and almost 70% of them are infected with STDs. So we have bi-weekly medical check-up camps for the drivers and we provide them with OTC drugs and medicines”. “When you save fuel, you are also reducing carbon dioxide emissions, which is the environmental aspect to this initiative”, he added, stating that “In terms of fuel conservation, drivers who employ our techniques are able to save Rs 12,000 a month on fuel, his profitability doubles”
“Every minute there is an accident happening on Indian highways, and every 4 minutes there is a death. 78% of these accidents involve truck drivers, and 30% of these fatalities are truck drivers, who are the sole breadwinners of the family. So it becomes important to tell them about how to drive safely. 38% of accidents happen between 3 PM and 7 PM, after they have lunch and feel fatigue”, said Mr Sinha, elaborating on the dangers faced by truck drivers.
Motivated by the positive impact and the huge potential of the movement, Magma and PCRA now aim to take this initiative to more transport nagars and train another 1.5 lakh drivers in the next 3 years.
Appreciating Magma’s initiative and talking about the workshops, Mr. Alok Tripathi, Executive Director, PCRA said, “Since its inception, PCRA (Petroleum Conservation Research Association under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural gas is engaged in promoting fuel conservation and its efficient utilization in major sectors of the economy namely Agriculture, Transport, Domestic, Industry and Commercial through its various activities. It helps the government in proposing policies and strategies for petroleum conservation, aimed at reducing excessive dependence of the county on oil requirement. Over the years, PCRA has enlarged its role in improving productivity in use of various sources of energy, for the purpose of achieving environment protection and sustainable development. As far as Transport sector is concerned there is a saving potential of about 20 % in this sector.” He appreciated the joint initiative of MAGMA & PCRA for conducting Drivers training Workshops at various Transport Nagar locations across India, covering about 100000 drivers under the program till July, 2017.
India has approximately 2 million drivers of medium and heavy trucks. On an average, a driver drives about 10000-12,000 kilometres per month, becoming vulnerable to eye sight issues, unhealthy eating habits, posture problems, common ailments of cough and cold due to fatigue, and the danger of HIV. Club this with poor highway safety conditions and the highways become most vulnerable to accidents. In India, drivers’ fault account for 78.5% (3, 81,648 accidents) of total accidents and more than 30% of the total road accident deaths are associated with trucks annually. Magma at these Porta cabins also organises regular bi-monthly free consultation, diagnosis and basic medication, well-being, posture correction and de-stress workshops for the drivers.
