Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations Report

|Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations | | | | | |   | |Home   | | | |Truck Freightage Defies Trends in Economy: IFTRT Report | |   | |Defying the buoyant data being released by various agencies about the expansion of economic activities and soaring corporate profits, | |the trucking business, consisting of 3 million trucks, has failed to look up in last 4 weeks. The truck freightage has remained flat | |on most of the trunk routes despite increase in cost of operation due to 2 diesel price hikes (Dec 31 and Dec 15†² 03) totaling Rs. 2/- | |per litre (10%) and have, in fact, sharply declined on trunk routes passing through Uttar Pradesh due to resumption of overloading by | |trucks. | | |On the other hand various State Governments had withdrawn Gold token/ passes/ cards, which permitted over-loading of trucks in excess | |of permitted weight, in order to get release of their share of Central Road Fund withheld since April 2003. The Central Government has| |stop ped Central Road Fund to those State Governments, which were not only permitting but sponsoring overloading of trucks in | |contravention of Central Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 by issuing Gold Cards/ passes/ tokens to truckers against fixed monthly/ quarterly | |fee. The Central Government has taken a firm view that â€Å"over-loading of the vehicles cause significant damage to road surface†¦ | | | |Recently, the State Government of Uttar Pradesh withdrew the Gold Card scheme w. e. f. Dec. 15, 03 and a month later Rajasthan did the | |same w. e. f. 1, Jan 04. The subsequent stringent enforcement of CMV Act, 1988 by U. P. Transport Department by not permitting the | |entry/passing through of overloaded trucks from the State resulted in sharp increase in truck freightage by 4% – 7. 5% during the | |fortnight (Dec 1, – Dec 15, 03) and unsettled the trucking business in region. However, this anti-overloading drive was short-lived | |and has collapsed in the U. P. State, by and large. Now, overloaded trucks are plying and passing through the State merrily. Thus, | |truck freightage once again is being dictated by the over-loading of vehicles that existed before Dec. 1, 03. In the last four weeks | |the truck freightage for the trunk routes passing through U. P. has dropped by 3. 5% – 6. 8%, according to the monthly update released by| |Indian Foundation of Transport Training & Research (IFTRT). | | | |Union Government outsmarted by Rajasthan | | | |Followed by U. P. the Rajasthan Government, too, had withdrawn its Gold card/token scheme from 1, Jan 04 to get the Central Road Fund | |released immediately. However, the State Government, very smartly has replaced the earlier special Gold Token Scheme with another | |†AMNESTY SCHEME† by charging multi slab fee to permit unhindered over-loading of trucks in excess of prescribed weight limit. The 1st | |Jan. '04 notification has been â€Å"modified† to pacify the Central Government, which had again refused to release the money from Central | |Road Fund. But, plyin g of over loaded commercial vehicles continues under the patronage of State Transport Department, points out the | |report. |   | | | |TRUCK (16. 2 TON GVW) Hire charges/rates (Rs. per round trip 21 Dec'03 – 21 Jan'04 | |Route / Round Trip |Period |Truck Hire charges |Diesel Price increase Impact | |9 ton pay load | |change/Round Trip/Period |(per round trip) 31 Dec'03 | | | |21 Dec'03 – 21 Jan'04 | | | Hire Charges |Hire Charges | | | | |21 Dec'03 |21 Jan'04 | | | | | | |Rs. |% |Rs. |% | |Delhi – Mumbai – Delhi |28,800/- |28,800/- |No Change |NC |(+) 620/- |(+) 5 | |Delhi – Nagpur – Delhi |28,400/- |28,400/- |No Change |NC |(+) 610/- |(+) 5 | |Delhi – Kolkata – Delhi |34,700/- |33,000/- |(-) 1,700/- |(-) 5. 0 |(+) 630/- |(+) 5 | |Delhi – Guwahati – Delhi |69,400/- |67,000/- |(-) 2,400/- |(-) 3. |(+) 850/- |(+) 5 | |Delhi – Hyderabad – Delhi |43,100/- |43,100/- |No Change |NC |(+) 770/- |(+) 5 | |Delhi – Chennai – Delhi |59,000/- |59,000/- |No Change |NC |(+) 870/- |(+) 5 | |Delhi – Bangalore – Delhi |44,800/- |45,000/- |(+) 200/- |(+) 0. 5 |(+) 770/- |(+) 5 | |Delhi – Ranchi – Delhi |33,300/- |31,300/- |(-) 2,000/- |(-) 6. 8 |(+) 620/- |(+) 5 | |Delhi – Raipur – Delhi |29,300/- |29,300/- |No Change |NC |(+) 630/- |(+) 5 | |Delhi – Kandla – Delhi |18,300/- |18,300/- |No Change |NC |(+) 340/- |(+) 5 | |Delhi – Bilaspur – Delhi |30,300/- |30,300/- |No Change |NC |(+) 620/- |(+) 5 |