new delhi nearly 98 truck drivers covered in a study said they do not want their family members to join the driving professionthe study based on a qualitative interview by a notforprofit organisation has revealed harassment by authorities low and irregular income risk of fatalities or injuries and no dignity of labour as the main reasons for hardly any driver wanting anyone else in the family to take up this jobthe survey based on detailed interviews of truck drivers across several cities was conducted by asiaafrica supply chain transform health alliance in association with the people to people health foundation according to the report 75 of the drivers surveyed complained about harassment by police and local groups 72 spoke about low and irregular income and nearly 36 felt there is no dignity of their laboursince the problem that the truck drivers face is common knowledge we did deep dive into the concerns that they have including the health issues in these detailed interviews most of the drivers said they were sole earners in their families and most were married said archishman mohapatra who headed the study he said most of the drivers admitted that they often drive up to 14 hours a dayaccording to the report the indian trucking industry has around 90 lakh vehicles on the road which along with new additions need around nine lakh new truck drivers every year although this number is growing on the contrary the number of people opting for commercial truckdriving as a career or profession is dropping rapidly as a consequence about 40 of total trucks and goods transport vehicles remain idle on any given dayduring the survey 37 of the respondents spoke about chronic pain or musculoskeletal issues while 28 complained about sleep related problemsmajor truckers bodies also said that there has been a huge fall in the number of drivers coming from punjab haryana and uttar pradesh which had traditionally been sending men behind the wheels now a large chunk of drivers in the unorganised sector hail from mewat in haryana