Aiming to decrease the number of road accidents, the government has directed all truck manufacturing companies that starting April next year, they will have to provide air-conditioned chamber for the drivers.
In a notification issued recently, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified this claiming that drivers shouldn't get tired owing to the harsh conditions.
In March, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had said that he had made air-conditioning mandatory, as it will decrease the number of road accidents.
“We are going to make air-conditioning of driver cabins of trucks and buses mandatory so that the drivers, who work for several hours nonstop, get some relief and can drive with more alertness,” he had said.
Meanwhile, the move has irked many of the manufacturers saying they are not ready to introduce air conditioned cabins in India from mid-2017.
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has also written to the government to keep the decision on hold.
“The industry has worked for the past two years to bring BS-IV emission norm in trucks from April 2017. All these vehicles are in advanced stages of approvals and many have already been approved,” a SIAM official said.
However, Nalin Mehta, MD and Chief Executive of Mahindra Trucks & Buses Ltd said that it is a very progressive step for the long run.
“Fleet owners won’t take the initiative unless there is a legislation that forces it. For manufacturers, time-frame is not comfortable. At Mahindra, our HCVs (heavy commercial vehicles) are ready with air-conditioning systems but we will have to work on the LCVs (light commercial vehicles),” he said.
As per government data, trucks were responsible for about 11.5 per cent (11,600 persons) of the total 1.4 lakh road deaths in 2015. Similarly, buses were involved in 10,740 deaths last year.
