Hub to train drivers for hilly terrain

Cachar

The Dolcherra driving track in Cachar. Telegraph picture

March 19: A driving institute at Dholcherra, about 20km from Silchar, will soon provide training to drivers who have to negotiate treacherous hill paths.

The central project, which will be undertaken under the aegis of the Union heavy industries ministry, is being sponsored by the newly constituted National Automative Testing and R and D Infrastructure Project at an initial grant of Rs 50 crore.

The Dholcherra project is part of seven such schemes — at Manesar in Haryana, Oragadam near Chennai, Pune, Indore, Ahmednagar and Rae Bareilly at a cost of Rs 1,718 crore.

P.B. Dev, officer on special duty of the Dholcherra project, said the scheme would be undertaken in two phases on 65 acres of land.

Another sub-centre under this centre will be opened at Japhirbond under Udarbond block in Cachar on a 20-acre plot of land to train the drivers and automobile mechanics on the management of vehicles. A regional vehicle management centre and institute for training of motor technicians would be set up at Japhirbond, he added.

The first phase of this project is slated for inauguration in the middle of this year.

The second and final phase of commissioning of the project is scheduled for early 2011. Dev said a wide of array of skills relating to car driving will be imparted to the drivers, both commercial and amateur, so that safety requirements are maintained. He added that once the driving institute at Dholcherra is set up, it would be the first such institute in the country.

A state-of-the-art hill driving track on a 700-metre stretch with a two-way path is being prepared to induct the drivers, particularly those who haul heavy cargo trucks.

Dev said the institute would be empowered to issue competence certificates to the drivers, depending on their driving skills. It will also provide job opportunities in both the government and private sectors. The first lesson will be for drivers who run passenger buses through the hill roads in Mizoram, Meghalaya and Manipur in a four-day orientation camp at Dholcherra from April 8.

To help the drivers get a feel of driving on hill roads, two Japan-made simulators would be used at the Dholcherra centre.

Union heavy industries minister Sontosh Mohan Dev said: “The Dholcherra centre would usher in a new era of responsible and safe motor driving in Assam.” THE TELEGRAPH