Amendment to Motor Vehicles Bill may leave most of city’s 3L mechanics jobless

R amesh, 54, who runs a mechanic shop at Madipakkam, had moved to the city at the age of 11. A school dropout, he said, “After doing several odd jobs, I eventually landed at a mechanic shop in North Chennai. I stayed with them for nearly 10 years before starting my own workshop here.”

A sole breadwinner, it was his job as a mechanic that lifted his family from the shackles of poverty. He has two sons — the eldest cleared NEET last year and is a first year student at Madras Medical College while the youngest is studying in Class 10.

Around 11,000 mechanic shops that are scattered across the city have similar stories. This situation is likely to change forever, if the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2017 is passed in the Parliament.

The Amendment to Section 182A was the main reason which made scores of workers from this sector take part in the nationwide protest on January 8 and 9.

“The penalty for failing to comply with the provisions of chapter VII during manufacture shall be a term which may extend to one year or a fine which may extend to rupees one hundred crore. The penalty to offer to sell or sell safety components not in compliance with chapter VII shall be an imprisonment of one year and a fine which may extend to one lakh rupees,” reads the draft of the bill.

An advocate S Abimanyu said, “There is a pressure to create vehicle testing and certification centres (automatic testing centres) to provide vehicles with periodic certifications (every five years for personal vehicles and every three years for commercial vehicles). There is little infrastructure in the states to enable this. The issue was raised in the standing committee discussions.”

This proposal would ensure that state government joins hands with private firms to set up infrastructure owing to large investment required.

“While the profit motive might derail the credibility of the certification process, it might also empower these companies to enforce rules that will bar services of self-employed mechanics and use of non-branded spare parts. This was a major concern when the older version of the bill was proposed in 2015,” Abimanyu added.

The proposed amendment will adversely affect this non-formal sector and many families like that of Ramesh’s.

Till now, the original equipment (OE) spare parts are freely available in the open market. This would change when the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) bill, 2017 replaces the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

The working president of the Tamil Nadu Two Wheelers Repair Workers Welfare Association, K Janakiraman, said, “Nearly 70 per cent of people employed in this informal industry are school dropouts who may find it difficult to find jobs or start other businesses.”

“Also, if an OE manufacturer supplies a single product both in the open market and to the reputed dealers, he may package a product and sell it to dealers at Rs 100. While, in the open market the same product will be available for Rs 75. The mechanics will purchase from this market for Rs 85 (considering Rs 10 profit margin). So, the end consumers have to shell out a lower amount with the current arrangement,” said Janakiraman.

If the proposed amendment is accepted, this supply chain would be disrupted as mechanics are forced to purchase products from the reputed centres which are owned by the automobile manufacturers, he added.

“The mechanics have to purchase goods from these dealers. They might sell the spare parts or decide to deny to provide the parts leaving the customers to approach only service centres and it will affect our livelihood,” said Janakiraman.

The president of the Motor Vehicle Spare Parts Merchants Welfare Association, Haroon Rasheed, said, “The industry was hit severely after the Goods and Service Tax was introduced. Now, if the new bill with the amendment is passed, we will be overburdened. Chennai’s 10,000 spare parts establishments may be forced to shut down and we will lose our livelihood to the big manufacturers who own service stations. They alone will reap all the profits.”

Affirming this, Abimanyu elaborated, “The bill mandates that vehicles can only be repaired in workshops run by the manufacturer of the vehicle. If the vehicle develops a problem, it cannot be just taken to the nearest mechanic. 

Instead, it has to be taken to the repair shop run by the manufacturing company. The argument for this is that the small repair shops may use faulty parts, leading to road accidents.  

One of the main causes of road accidents is the conditions of the roads which is the responsibility of the governments at various levels – Centre, state and municipalities. This is not being addressed at all in the bill which claims to ensure road safety.

According to the State Transport Authority, the city has a two-wheeler population of around 42.54 million as on April 1, 2018.

The surge in vehicular population has witnessed a parallel growth of mechanic shops in the nook and corner of the city. Industry sources claim that nearly 6,000 workshops would have operated a decade ago.

This informal industry links various other occupations including electricians, tinkerer and other affiliated persons engaged in deep lining and panelling, among others. 

And, livelihoods of thousands are dependant on mechanic workshops and spare parts establishments. “The number of people dependent upon this sector runs close to three lakh,” said Janakiraman. On the other hand, there are close to 50 service centres only in the city. 

A city-based dealer of Hero Vehicles, Chennai Eco Motors, director of operations, A Rajagopal, said, “The inadequate number of service centres for electric vehicles is the paramount reason for the slow-paced development in this segment. 

Also, the existing service  centres cannot cater to the entire range of customers. Many customers choose to visit the nearest mechanic shop since the latter charges a lower fee.”  “After spending a lot of money to open and operate a service centre, it cannot be managed with minimum income. 

The mechanic shops, however, can thrive on a comparatively lower income. Also, it is difficult to set up thousands of service centres in less than a year or two to handle the current vehicular population of the city.”

Industry sources also said that the mechanic shops would have to encounter a new set of problems in future. Their lack of expertise in the field of electricals is bound to hamper their growth, the experts said.

“It is relatively easy to repair electric vehicles, if a person possesses electrical knowledge. It is less complicated and no high-end technology is involved. But, the workers have to be trained in this field given high risk involved in it,” Rajagopal said.

The shift is imminent with the government introducing a slew of initiatives to push the e-vehicles in a big way.

Meanwhile, workers say they are willing to be trained in all the spheres.

“The new model of petrol vehicles are equipped with high end technology including sensors, final injectors, ATS brake system and combined braking system. We have learned to rectify faults in the vehicles on our own. On an average, we earn up to Rs 400 daily,” said mechanic R Ramesh.

Speaking about the bill, V Rahul, a software professional said, “If the new bill comes into effect, it is true that we will have to make a beeline for the service centres and the maintenance cost of vehicles will rise but, we will at least be sure that quality products have been used for our vehicles.”

The State Transport Commissioner, C Samayamoorthy, refused to comment stating that it is a Central Act which is not under the purview of the state government.