{"id":116239,"date":"2024-08-17T20:59:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-17T20:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/17\/road-less-travelled-as-wayanad-shows-indias-off-roading-community-is-fast-emerging-as-a-bankable-support-base-in-disaster-relief\/"},"modified":"2024-08-17T20:59:06","modified_gmt":"2024-08-17T20:59:06","slug":"road-less-travelled-as-wayanad-shows-indias-off-roading-community-is-fast-emerging-as-a-bankable-support-base-in-disaster-relief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/17\/road-less-travelled-as-wayanad-shows-indias-off-roading-community-is-fast-emerging-as-a-bankable-support-base-in-disaster-relief\/","title":{"rendered":"Road less travelled: As Wayanad shows, India\u2019s off-roading community is fast emerging as a bankable support base in disaster relief"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When landslides<\/a> struck Wayanad<\/a> on July 30, sweeping away entire villages, hundreds of people stepped into the raging river and knee-deep sludge to find survivors. Help came from an unexpected quarter as well\u2013\u2013 off-road drivers<\/a>. They manoeuvred their 4×4 sports utility vehicles (SUVs) through the challenging terrain to assist in any way they could\u2014to save lives or, in the worst case scenario, find bodies.<\/p>\n

Niyas, a 35-year-old off-roader from Kozhikode, drove 80 km to reach the landslide-affected site. He is still in Wayanad with his vehicle, almost two weeks after the landslide, looking for bodies in the Chaliyar river<\/a>. \u201cOur vehicles can rough it out. They are access points. After recovering bodies, they are handed over to ambulances waiting at a distance,\u201d says Niyas, who has a vehiclemodification studio. \u201cThe real purpose of off-roaders<\/a> is not riding through rainforests or winning competitions but saving lives in calamities<\/a> like these.\u201d<\/p>\n

Off-roaders like Niyas have become a unique breed of heroes. As vehicles capable of navigating challenging terrains become essential amid natural disasters<\/a> like mudslides, earthquakes and floods, young men and women behind all-wheel drive (AWD) vehicles are being increasingly recognised for their potential in disaster recovery<\/a> efforts.<\/p>\n

When Nithin Udaykrishna, an off-roader, landed in Kochi from Goa on July 30, after a motorsport challenge, little did he know that a bigger challenge was in store back at home in Wayanad. As soon as he heard about the landslides, he headed straight to the spot. \u201cThere was no road in sight. With the offroader, we flattened the mud to make an accessible road,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

This was Udaykrishna\u2019s second time in a Wayanad landslide. He had volunteered in 2019, too, when a landslide hit Puthumala. The 34-year-old waded through the deep slush in his AWD. He spent almost a week in rescue operations<\/a>. \u201cWe push our vehicles to the extreme,\u201d says Udaykrishna. His offroader needs a complete overhaul now as the bearings and suspension have been damaged. The tyres also need to be replaced. But that is never a deterrence, he says.<\/p>\n

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Sunny Sidhu, president of Chandigarhbased The Off-Road Tribe, which has about 225 members, says, \u201cWe were deployed in Patiala during the 2023 floods in Punjab. The administration had approached us and we were involved in rescue operations for seven days. We will not hesitate to be part of rescue missions in the future as we have now realised our potential in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

New 4×4 vehicles<\/a> have factory-fitted features that make them useful in certain disaster zones. The Force Gurkha comes with a snorkel, which is essential for deep-water wading, and front and rear differential lockers, which ensure both wheels on an axle turn together for maximum traction on tough tracks. The Mahindra Thar and the Suzuki Jimny, meanwhile, have limited slip differential that controls wheelspin on lowgrip surfaces.<\/p>\n

Many older vehicles, however, need upgrades to operate in disaster sites and drive through flooded streets, say off-roaders. These modifications include upsized wheels, snorkels, raised suspension and auxiliary lights. \u201cWhen one of our vehicles got trapped in a trench, the snorkel helped the rider navigate through flood waters that were several feet deep,\u201d says Niyas.<\/p>\n

However, the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) does not take kindly to such modifications. \u201cWe are fined while such modifications are legal in many countries. The government must be lenient towards such modifications,\u201d says Udaykrishna.<\/p>\n

Off-roaders\u2019 clubs in Kerala have been in discussions with the MVD to have a protective policy for modified off-road vehicles, given the role they can play in rescue operations, says Sam Kurien Kalarickal, founder of R&T Offroad Club in Kottayam, Kerala.<\/p>\n

Their plea is unlikely to succeed. In 2019, the Supreme Court said modifications, which alter specifications made by the manufacturer or what is mentioned on the vehicle registration certificate, are illegal.

PICKING UP<\/strong>
Adoption of AWD vehicles and advanced traction features is growing in India. In FY2022, AWD penetration was 1.7%, which went up to 2.3% in FY23, and is projected to reach 2.5% in FY24, according to data collated by Jato Dynamics. The steady increase in AWD penetration and a significant growth in electronic traction control and stability control systems suggest Indian vehicles are becoming better equipped in handling challenging terrains, says Ravi Bhatia, president, Jato Dynamics.<\/p>\n

Kalarickal is arguably the first to set up a training academy for off-roading in Kerala. The club, which has 250 offroaders, started in 2007. Kalarickal says he never imagined his passion would help him save lives in the floods that ravaged the state in 2018. Riding his Jeep through flooded streets for 15 km, \u201cwe managed to save a family of four from their house minutes before it collapsed,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n

Training schools are playing their part. Mahindra\u2019s school, based out of Igatpuri in Maharashtra, has an advanced course that trains off-roaders in rescue, remote-location repair, winch and recovery techniques. Kerala has 50 off-roader clubs, the highest in India.
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When landslides struck Wayanad on July 30, sweeping away entire villages, hundreds of people stepped into the raging river and knee-deep sludge to find survivors. Help came from an unexpected quarter as well\u2013\u2013 off-road drivers. They manoeuvred their 4×4 sports utility vehicles (SUVs) through the challenging terrain to assist in any way they could\u2014to save […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.etimg.com\/photo\/msid-42031747\/et-logo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[95177,95181,722,95176,87762,969,15695,95178,12091,2210,925,14879,1659,95179,95175,95180,6661,41179,13975,1116,864,65160,14128],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116241,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116239\/revisions\/116241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}