On the road with

Dar’Sel’Jamshedpur to Delhi

1-8 June, 2015

PART FOUR

RAMESH KUMARChairperson,

KRK Foundation +Co-Founder,

Transport Mitra Services

Hardly 100 km before Jamshedpur, hunger pangs began to hit and we began looking for a dhaba (roadside eatery). At Bundu, we found Panchavati and parked for lunch.

Post-lunch, we noticed a huge truck parking across National Highway 33 under the guise of Yadav Dhaba and learnt it belongs to the owner of Panchavati.

Suited-booted Aakib Mohammed and T-shirted Shaubit Chatterjee of Darcl accompanying us on this trip managed to figure out that the owner luckily happens to be lunching at the same venue. Right there, our Mission started.

The Dhaba owner Ram Lakhan Yadav was more than enthusiastic to discuss our proposal on Dhaba Adoption Program (DAP) under which toilets will be built for truck drivers. Health check ups would be carried out. Educating drivers on road safety issues would be undertaken.

Significantly, DARCL drivers invariably halt at this Dhaba for a break after leaving Jamshedpur and at times spend the night because they have to cross the Extremist-infested ghat section immediately after this dhaba and they always avoid night driving.

Aakib inspects the surrounding and finds a hair dressing saloon and greasing /tyre repair facility inside the Dhaba vicinity. Achche Dikne mein bura kya hai? (What’s wrong in looking good?)

As luck would have it, Darcl “Dada” – as Shaubit Chatterjee is affectionately called by one and all – bumps into one of his pilots whom he had been chatting for many moons but seldom met until this moment at this Dhaba.

Hearing about our proposed village visit programme for an interaction with drivers’ parivar, Pilot Sukhdev Yadav insists that we should not miss meeting his family at Guhal/Jharkhand. By the way, the promise was fulfilled.

Aakib and Dada are most excited as this is something they always dreamt, but did not materialise till now.

We dash across to the Steel City for the final roll call with Darcl team led by Nishant Tanay. The Jamshedpur-Delhi road trip plan is discussed threadbare before we call it a day. More important was the next day’s agenda: meeting with Tata Steel bosses at the logistics end about driver welfare activities at bases and en route: a collaborative effort between the steel giant and Darcl as part of its unique Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) initiative.