Ashok Leyland, the Hinduja Group flagship, launched a unique placement scheme for trained commercial vehicle drivers in the country at a function held at their Driver Training Institute in Namakkal. The new scheme instituted and facilitated by Ashok Leyland offers a sound value proposition to both the drivers and fleet owners: while, on one hand, it promises affordable high quality training and assured employment to the drivers, on the other, fleet owners get access to better trained and skilled drivers to manage their fleet.
“This placement scheme is an important step towards not only improving quality of life and professional standards of drivers but also enhancing the possibilities of attracting the youth into this profession.,” said, Mr. B. Venkat Subramaniam, Executive Director, Strategic Allied Business Initiatives, Ashok Leyland, at the launch of the scheme. “We constantly endeavor to make our customers more profitable by providing them the ideal mix of product and service and with this initiative, we have embarked on a journey to address the critical issue of dearth of well-trained commercial vehicle drivers,” he added.
The Company also dedicated to the driver transport community a state-of-the-art, 6-degree motion-platform driver training simulator at the Namakkal institute, co-developed with the technology supplier. “This move is reflective of our intent to introduce global best practices in driver training techniques to accelerate the learning curve,” explained Mr. Subramaniam. “A driver can now be trained in a variety of simulated driving and operating conditions which are not very practical in normal circumstances.”
Ashok Leyland, at present, has two Driver Training Institutes (DTI) at Namakkal (Tamil Nadu) and Burari, near Delhi that are amongst the most comprehensive in India’s private sector. These DTIs are built with all conceivable road and terrain configurations, equipped with modern facilities and follow a structured curriculum whereby divers are trained for life both on and off the road. Thus far, more than 5 lakh drivers have been trained at these two institutes. More driving training institutes are planned at Khaital (Haryana), Chindwara (MP), Rajasmand (Rajasthan) and Bhubaneswar (Odisha).
As part of Ashok Leyland’s comprehensive driver care programme is ‘Arogya’, a health initiative, with a medical center set up at Hosur where drivers can avail of free medical check-ups and consultations. Another of the Company’s initiatives is the ‘All the Best’ scheme, a scholarship programme for top-performing children of drivers. Launched in Tamil Nadu and Kerala two years ago, 650 deserving children have thus far benefitted from this scheme including 150 to whom scholarships were awarded today at a separate function.
