Owing to the poor economic conditions and slowdown in the economy, the 4th edition of the Truck, Trailer and Tyre expo held from November 22 – 24 in Mumbai received lukewarm response.
However the truck and trailer associations have shown positive response to the government’s notification of making FASTag sticker mandatory in all the commercial vehicles from December 1.
“Since a decade or more the primary demand of All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) has been for the removal of all barrier and human intervention for free seamless movement of vehicles across the country. We hope and wish that the mandatory FASTags for all vehicles is a step in that direction. We at AIMTC are doing things to the best of our efforts to create awareness and mobilise uptake of Fastags before the December 1, 2019 deadline. We hope that the current push by the government for mandatory FASTags does not result in another fiasco with total chaos at toll plazas, if cash toll is collected in FASTag lanes,” said Bal Malkit Singh, Chairman – Core Committee, AIMTC.
There are more than 15 lakh trucks and trailers in Maharashtra alone and out of these, many have already installed these tags that shall enable faster and smoother movement of vehicles. These vehicles will not have to pay cash at toll nakas as a prepaid amount will already be stored in the FASTag itself.
As far as innovations are concerned, GPS device and allied system are being installed in heavy vehicles including trucks, trailers and tempos. One of the companies at the expo presented a GPS device under AIS 140 IRNSS which is also being used by ISRO. This GPS once installed, can track any vehicle with 5 meter radius while has 7 satellites monitoring it. There were other companies that presented their GPS system which allows the user to monitor fuel consumption and also wear and tear of tyres.
GPS and it's allied systems are important for safety and prevention of accident in roads. There are mechanisms available which will indicate if a driver is feeling sleepy, calculate the speed of a vehicle, the route taken by it etc.
Another highlight of this event was the introduction of electric tempo which can carry up to 400 kgs of goods, can run 80-100 kms on a single charge at a speed of 25kmph. It will need 6-7 hours for getting fully recharged. These environment friendly vehicles will help transport vegetables and fruits from wholesale market to retail ones across Mumbai and other cities.
Despite new products and ideas are being displayed at the expo, the footfall was disappointing, feels the organisers. “In the previous edition there were 180 exhibitors while this time there are only 66 exhibitors. The industry experts blame it on the poor market conditions, economic slowdown and overall unfavourable policies affecting different sectors and industries,” said Ram Saundalkar, the organiser of this exhibition.
