MOTORINDIA’s exclusive interview with Mr. P.K. Banerjee, SAFE Vice President, and Head Homologation, Tata Motors Ltd.
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has incorporated an independent body known as the Society for Automotive Fitness & Environment (SAFE) in order to achieve advancement of Inspection & Certification (I&C) of vehicles and increased safety on roads. With membership from the industry, the Government, testing agencies and NGOs, SAFE will work towards generating awareness among various stakeholders regarding inspection & certification, which would lead to safer vehicles and cleaner environment.
In an informal chat with MOTORINDIA on the sidelines of the SAFE Annual Convention in Thiruvananthapuram, Mr. Prashant Kumar Banerjee, SAFE Vice President, and Head – Homologation & Product Evaluation Department in the ERC of Tata Motors Ltd., observed that the Society remains committed to maintain maximum safety and clean environment. The discussion covered a lot of issues of topical interest to the auto industry.
Edited excerpts:
MOTORINDIA: What is your first and foremost agenda for SAFE?
Banerjee: The primary focus of SAFE is on road safety and clean environment as its name itself suggests. Hence these are the two pillars on which the Society has been functioning since the very beginning.
MOTORINDIA: What is SAFE’s role in generating safety awareness?
Banerjee: Through our consistently effective campaign, we create greater awareness of using seat belt. Kerala, for instance, is trying to rely on the android application development as also fix cameras at various road junctions to enable automatic passage of information to the control room. Hence IT enablement is one of the key areas which will lead to better enforcement. So we have to move away from the personal physical involvement. The Central Government has already started several initiatives in this direction towards achieving safety and environment objectives. We have to catch people at a young age in schools and educate them on the importance of mobility with a sense of social responsibility.
MOTORINDIA: What do you think of the Road Safety Bill?
Banerjee: I think the Road Safety Bill incorporating effective regulations will be welcome all over.
Mr. Banerjee, a Fellow of Institution of Mechanical Engineers (FIMechE), UK, has been representing India in different Working Groups of the United Nations and is currently Chairman of the Indian General Safety Group (GRSC) in UNECE. An alumnus of IIT Mumbai, he has 25 years of experience with more than 20 National and International technical papers to his credit in the field of engine performance evaluation, emissions and fuel economy, with particular focus on CNG and other low energy alternate fuels. He is currently responsible for Global Product Certification & Compliance of the entire portfolio of Tata Motors in national and international markets. He has also been closely associated with India’s journey since inception on natural gas as vehicular fuel since 1991.