Overall emphasis on road safety & security
Fifty-plus year-old Mehboob Patel travelled 600 km with his entire family on March 23 last to be present at Kanteerava Outdoor Stadium to receive the Karnataka Chief Minister’s medal for accident-free driving. Mehboob is a driver with NEKRTC plying from Gulbarga to Shivamogga for six years. With a beaming face, moist eyes and his back straight, he walked up on the dais to receive the honours, and the entire stadium erupted into huge applause.
Another driver, P. Niranjana Murty, plying a BMTC bus for many years acknowledges the contribution of his family. “It is only because of their support that I have been selected for this award today. For years, I have done the first shift. Everyone in my family is here to witness my receiving the Award.”
These two were among the 1,189 drivers who received gold and silver medals from the Chief Minister, Mr. Siddaramaiah, for accident-free driving for years.
Established in 1982, the award felicitation event was organized for the drivers of the four road transport corporations of Karnataka – the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) and the North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC).
According to the official statement, those drivers who ferried passengers safely and without accident for upto 15 years received gold medals while those who recorded safe driving from 5-7 years were awarded silver medals.
While Syed Noorullah, a BMTC driver, says that “patience is the key to safe driving, Ravi Kumar, who has completed 24 years of driving on the Bengaluru-Kolar route for KSRTC adds: “I believe in avoiding risks because I am aware of the significance or magnitude of my role and responsibility, and like me, the families of the passengers are also waiting for us to reach home safe and sound.”
The Chief Ministerial Gold Medal award comprises eight grams of gold insignia on 32 grams silver base, a citation, along with Rs. 5,000 cash award, and a monthly incentive of Rs. 100. The silver medal is of 32 gram with gold plating. Besides, the driver receives a cash award of Rs. 2,000, a citation and a monthly incentive of Rs. 50.
It is known in general that of the 60 plus State road transport undertakings (SRTUs) in India barely a couple of them are recording profit. With the road transport corporations in the red, the worst of the impact is borne by their drivers and conductors. A few SRTUs like Kerala SRTC do have pension schemes for their retired drivers and conductors, but largely the SRTUs are grappling with a horde of issues.
Of the few SRTUs in the country, the four belonging to Karnataka have been working towards incentivizing their performance to not only encourage but to ensure improvement in their confidence levels, so that they become more responsible and aware, develop and maintain positive attitude and behavior. The corporations have been helping their drivers and conductors in realizing their self-worth which in turn has given them a sense of self-respect in their roles.
Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister thanked the drivers and their families: “Zero accidents may not be always possible, but the number of accidents involving our drivers should be minimal. And, there should be none due to negligence on their part.”
Mr. Rajender Kumar Kataria, KSRTC Managing Director, said: “KSRTC is among a few that give incentives to all the drivers and conductors, and they are given one per cent bonus on their salaries.” He felt that such award ceremonies go a long way in ensuring their self-respect and their sense of responsibility towards their job which makes them successful.
The BMTC Managing Director, Dr. Ekroop Caur, observed: “The Corporation expects this would serve as a model for all drivers to inculcate driving discipline and minimize involvement of BMTC buses in accidents. Moreover, the drivers who are awarded the silver medals are eligible for the gold medal as these years of accident-free service will be documented and counted within the gold medal eligibility.”
Whether it is NWKRTC driver Lingappa Yellappa Dasanakoppa, KSRTC’s M.L. Lakshmipathy or M. John Richard of BMTC, they all know that a driver has no ego in his work. As Gundappa, a KSRTC driver of 32 years experience, says, “swallow your ego, because only then will you win at the end of the day when your passengers reach their destination safe.”
The BMTC driver, Suresh Rao, admits: “Our own drivers sometimes challenge us to race. Even when it feels easy to fall into the trap, I keep my focus on my job. I know that following traffic rules is what will keep everyone safe.”
A retired NEKRTC driver, K.A.K. Siddiqui, who also received a gold medal for exemplary execution of his job, shares valuable insight from a lifelong career spent on roads. “The trick is to ensure that the vehicles coming in front of you are safe.”
Halagappa M. Madar, a BMTC driver, advises, “don’t think about the targets you need to achieve. When you are driving, your mind, eyes and focus must be on the road.”
Regular training sessions are conducted for the drivers of all the four corporations. Dr. Caur says: “We conduct special training for accident-prone drivers. Also, BMTC is in the process of overhauling the training module to make it more impactful. Reports generated from Vehicle Tracking System (VTS) will be used to monitor the driving habits of the drivers so that corrective action can be taken.”
BMTC like KSRTC, encourages its drivers with incentives, ensuring better productivity at work.
Aiding the efforts of all the four corporations, the Chief Minister announced a few IT projects in the pipeline to further strengthen them for putting up a better performance:
- Intelligent Transport Enterprise (ITE) for systematic operations of present and new schedules in KSRTC
- Integrated Transport Operation Management System
- Implementation of Smart Card-based Fare Collection in Bengaluru city which will be launched by May 2016
- All the 15,000 buses of KSRTC, NWKRTC and NEKRTC will be provided with GPS-based Vehicle Tracking System.
Still, these drivers are an invisible lot. Across India, the SRTU drivers ferry more than 70 million passengers every day by steering 1,50,000 buses, and yet they don’t get what they deserve. Performing such thankless job day in and day out does take a toll on them. Encouragement like this is what keeps the stress more manageable and urges these heroes to remain responsible and productive.