The burning highway at Kujju (near Ramgarh)

As everyone knows, illegal coal mining is rampant in Jharkhand and is carried out openly with total complicity of govt. officials and politicians. The illegally mined coal is always transported on bicycles because, apparently, there is no law against it!

Coal being transported on bicycles at Chutupalu Ghat near Ramgarh

Here is a statement (published in The Telegraph, Jamshedpur edition, dated 06.01.10) made by the CMD of Central Coalfields Ltd. : “Each cycle carries 300 to 400 kg of illegally mined coal and there are an estimated 18,000 cycles carrying coal all over the state. It translates to 7,200 tonnes of illegal coal entering the markets and some sponge iron units everyday”.

See the quantum of coal in one bicycle!

Illegal mining often leads to collapse of the mined cavities and major underground fires. During mid-2009, a portion of the NH33 near Ramgarh suddenly caved in and massive plumes of smoke started emanating from the fissures. Investigations revealed a huge underground coal fire. Thereafter, crores of Rupees of taxpayers’ money was spent by various govt. agencies and the fire was claimed to have been put off. However, during my recent trip to Kanpur and back I saw smoke still coming out of the fissures in the ground near Kujju (see picture below).

Smoke coming out of the ground adjacent to the bypass at Kujju

As far as the NH33 is concerned, a ‘diversion’ of sorts has been made for small vehicles and heavy vehicles have to take a long detour. This diversion is about a km long and starts 15 km after Ramgarh (at a village called Kujju) when one is going towards Hazaribagh. It is completely unpaved and has some steep slopes. I have driven through this bypass several times over the last 6 months or so. Initially, it wasn’t too bad but is now becoming more treacherous because some heavy vehicles have also started using it (obviously, by bribing the police) and their wheels have cut deep furrows in the unpaved and narrow path making it more problematic for small vehicles. Erosion of the path has also deposited a thick layer of dust on the road which starts flying and creates visibility problems whenever any vehicle passes on this road.

Thick cloud of dust creates visibility problems. Accidents are common. But who gives a damn?

Because there was no elected government in Jharkhand for many months, many projects were on hold. Now that the people of Jharkhand have once again entrusted the ‘governance’ of this state to a convicted murderer, projects (including a new stretch of NH33 between Ramgarh and Hazaribagh away from the underground fire zone) should start soon because projects are one of the best ways to make money!

Jamshedpur to Kanpur and back

My wife and I needed to attend the wedding of a nephew in Kanpur and I, always on the lookout for a long-drive opportunity, deliberately procrastinated on buying the train tickets till the car option became a fait accompli !

Even with an average of 22 km per litre of non-premium diesel in my Swift VDi, AC 2-tier travel by Indian Railways works out cheaper than car travel for two people. Only if three or more people travel together, car travel makes economic sense. Apart from the fuel cost, there are substantial additional expenses on board and lodging (hotels) during road trips involving one or more night halts. The point I’m trying to make here is that my long-drive decisions are not economic ones. It’s simply my passion for driving which makes the additional cost, additional risk and a goodly amount of irritation with the unruly Indian traffic worthwhile.

This was my third visit to Kanpur in my Swift VDi in two years. So why do I treat Kanpur almost as a suburb of Jamshedpur (though these two cities are about 900 km apart) as far as car trips are concerned? Mainly because the road is excellent and driving on it is fun. NH 33 from Jamshedpur to Barhi (via Ranchi, Ramgarh and Hazaribagh) is presently in a reasonably good shape and NH2 from Barhi to Kanpur (part of the Golden Quadrilateral project) is superb.

I could comfortably maintain 80-100 kmph on NH33 and 80-140 kmph on NH2. The best stretch was the Allhabad bypass on NH2 on which I’ll write a separate post. The Swift VDi once again performed admirably without a single problem. I love the torque and power of the Multijet engine, especially at low engine RPM. At anything above 1300 RPM or so, the car lurches forward like a wild beast at the slightest pressure on the gas pedal. Another thing I really like about this car are the powerful brakes, so essential in the badlands of India where any vehicle, animal or sub-human may suddenly decide to get on a collision course with you without any warning.

With the steady improvement of Indian roads, car suspensions are generally subjected to relatively less punishment nowadays. However, even on GQ one suddenly comes across some deep potholes or undulations and if one is doing high speeds there isn’t enough reaction time and the suspension gets subjected to huge impacts. On non-GQ highways it is common to find broken stretches everywhere in India. Another pain in India is speed-breakers – they appear without any warning and some of them are designed to be axle-breakers more than speed-breakers. Often, local people / administration put these up overnight without any signage or markings, usually as a knee-jerk reaction to a fatal road accident. After 26,000 km on my Swift I have no hesitation in saying that its suspension is quite good and far better suited to Indian roads as compared to my earlier cars (Maruti 800, Premier 118NE and Maruti Esteem).

Speed-breakers to watch out for on this route

1) The most horrible speed-breakers (4 of them) are at a place called Mandu on NH33. Mandu is 23 km from Ramgarh (towards Hazaribagh).

2) There are another 4 speed-breakers just after Hazaribagh as one is proceeding towards Barhi.

Let me now furnish some more details of our Kanpur trip for the benefit of others planning a similar trip :

Day 1 (while going) : Drove 476 km from Jamshedpur to Mohania and put up in Hotel Kaimur Vihar (phone : 06187-222822) of BSTDC. Mohania is in Bihar, quite close (24 km) to the U.P. border.

Day 2 (while going) : Drove 407 km from Mohania to Kanpur.

Day 1 (while returning) : Drove 625 km from Kanpur to Barhi (where NH2 joins NH33 in Jharkhand) and put up in hotel Highway Inn (phone : 06543-266319).

Day 2 (while returning) : Drove 260 km from Barhi to Jamshedpur.

Some statistics

1) Total distance clocked during Jamshedpur-Kanpur-Jamshedpur trip: 1796 km

2) Average fuel consumption over the entire distance of about 1800 km: 22.50 kmpl (using non-premium diesel; nil AC use; 2 persons; light luggage; includes about 100 km of city driving; 1700 km of highway driving includes hundreds of km at 100-140 kmph)

The tomb of Sher Shah Suri at Sasaram (Bihar). He made significant contribution to building / renewing the original Grand Trunk Road

Distances measured by car’s odometer :

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Namkum rly. crossing : 128 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Kantatoli Chowk, Ranchi : 131 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Ramgarh : 172 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Kujju bypass : 187 km (bypass about 1 km long)

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Mandu (4 huge speed-breakers) : 195 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Hazaribagh (Circuit House) : 223 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Barhi Chowk : 259 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to NH2 (Barhi) : 260 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Dobhi : 320 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Aurangabad : 381 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Dehri-on-Sone bridge : 404 to 407.5 km (bridge 3.5 km long)

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Mohania : 476 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Naubatpur (Bihar / U.P. border) : 500 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Varanasi Ganga bridge : 539 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Allahabad bypass starting point : 632 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Allahabad bypass ending point : 714 km (bypass length : 82 km)

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Rooma (Toyota showroom) : 861 km

Jamshedpur (Sonari) to Kanpur entry point (“Chakeri Indl Area 2” signboard) : 863 km

Kanpur entry point to Rama Devi chowraha, Kanpur : 5 km

Sunrise near Hazaribagh (Jharkhand)

Some more pics taken during this car trip may be seen at http://picasaweb.google.com/debashis1/ImagesWhileDrivingBy#

Delhi to Jamshedpur in two days

Day-1 : Drove from West Delhi (Dwarka) to Kanpur – a distance of 502 km. Left Dwarka at 4.30 AM and reached Kanpur at 1 PM. Spent about 40 minutes at Faridabad to visit someone’s house in Faridabad soon after getting out of Delhi early in the morning. Made it a point to fill up my fuel tank at Faridabad (Haryana) where fuel in cheaper than Delhi, U.P., Bihar and Jharkhand.

Day-2 : Drove from Kanpur to Jamshedpur – a distance of 883 km. Incidentally, this is the maximum distance I have ever covered in a day, driving by myself.

During this return leg from Delhi I was careful not to repeat the mistake of missing the Allahabad bypass. The Allahabad bypass is a superb 4-lane dual carriageway, 82 km long, passing mostly through sparsely populated areas – I did not come across a single petrol pump on this stretch and hardly any dhabas. Toll collection has not yet started here as the road is not yet officially complete.

Car performance was superb throughout this trip. SVS / MIL light problem has gone after EGR valve cleaning. Roads being excellent, I could comfortably drive between 90-130 kmph.

Some statistics:
Total distance covered during Jamshedpur-Delhi-Jamshedpur trip: 3066 km
Jam to Delhi (Ashram chowk) driving thro’ Allahabad city : 1339 km
Delhi (Dwarka) to Jam via Kanpur city and Allahabad bypass: 1385 km
Overall mileage : ~ 21.80 KMPL (includes about 400 km city driving, ~ 70% AC, lots of driving over 100 kmph).

While going to Delhi from Jamshedpur:
Day 1 : 133 km (Jam-Ranchi)
Day 2 : 759 km (Ranchi-little beyond Kanpur)
Day 3 : 448 km

While returning to Jamshedpur from Delhi:
Day 1 : 502 km (Dwarka-Kanpur)
Day 2 : 883 km (Kanpur-Jam)

20,000 km maintenance routines (4th paid service) on my Swift VDi

During the EGR valve cleaning job my car had already clocked 19,800 km and I decided to get the scheduled maintenance routines due at 20,000 km carried out simultaneously. Some of the important routines were engine oil + filter change, transmission oil change, brake oil change, coolant change, fuel filter change, air filter change, tyre rotation, checking all underbody fasteners, etc.

Total expenses were Rs 4691 (EGR vv gaskets : Rs 53; air filter : Rs 259; fuel filter : Rs 1204; oil filter : Rs 376; Golden Cruiser coolant 3.0 lit : Rs 705; Golden Cruiser brake fluid 250 ml : Rs 155; Mobil Delvac engine oil 3.1 lit : Rs 720; Castrol EP90 gear oil 2.5 lit : Rs 495; Labour : Rs 703).

It would be seen that the costliest item to be replaced every 20,000 km is the diesel filter (Rs 1204). It is a particulate filter cum water separator manufactured by BOSCH in Spain. I wonder why this filter cannot be developed indigenously.

Isn't EGR valve malfunction covered under warranty?

My Swift comes with a 2-year warranty and I have additionally purchased extended warranty for 2 more years. Since my car has not even completed 2 years, I was surprised when M/s PEBCO, Jamshedpur (Maruti authorized service station) stated that my EGR valve problem would not be covered under warranty and would be carried out on chargeable basis.

I reasoned with PEBCO that EGR valve cleaning is scheduled (as per Swift’s maintenance schedule) only at 30,000 km and if it has got clogged prematurely at 19,000 km, there must be some design / manufacturing defect and so its rectification should be covered under warranty.

PEBCO officials told me (as a justification for not covering the problem under warranty) that adulteration of diesel is common in India and this leads to excessive carbon formation which clogs up the EGR valve prematurely. I informed PEBCO that I always bought diesel from a reputed petrol pump in Jamshedpur and challenged them to draw a fuel sample from my car’s tank and prove that it was adulterated.

It is relevant to mention here that I had already discussed this issue with the petrol pump owner (who happens to be a qualified engineer) and he told me that some car service stations routinely raise the bogey of adulterated fuel to justify several problems in their respective cars and escape warranty liability. This petrol pump owner assured me that I could ask the diesel manufacturer (Indian Oil) for chemical analysis of the fuel sold in his petrol pump and defied any car service centre prove that his fuel was adulterated.

Despite all my reasoning, PEBCO refused to take a diesel sample from my car and stubbornly stuck to their decision not to cover my EGR valve problem under warranty.

Subsequently, I took up the matter with Maruti’s Regional Office at Ranchi. They agreed with my reasoning and directed PEBCO, Jamshedpur to rectify the defect in my car free of cost (under warranty). The matter was thus amicably resolved.

Problem with the EGR valve

The Multijet engine fitted in my diesel Swift has a cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system. The basic function of EGR is to reduce NOx emissions by recirculating small amounts of cooled exhaust gas into the engine's intake system when required.

The EGR Valve has an exhaust passage into it, and an intake passage from it. The valve is controlled by an electronic actuator. This electronic actuator is in turn controlled by the engine’s ECU (electronic control unit or on-board computer). Depending on parameters like engine RPM, coolant temperature, etc., the ECU sends commands to the electronic actuator to open (to varying degrees) at appropriate times, allowing exhaust gas to enter the intake system and reduce the oxygen content of the intake air.

A couple of months ago, with about 19,000 km on the odometer, I noticed that :
1) The SVS light was not going off after 4 seconds of turning on the ignition
2) The MIL light was not going off after starting the engine
3) There was no noticeable change in the car's performance

I took the car to Maruti Service where they connected their diagnostic device (called Tech-2) to my car’s ECU and found DTC (Diagnostic Trouble Code) No. P0400, i.e., problem with EGR flow. According to the Swift workshop manual, DTC No. P0400 is detected if one of the following conditions is satisfied :
1) Difference between measured MAF (mass air flow) and reference MAF is out of specified range
2) EGR valve is stuck open

Maruti Service technician cancelled the DTC with Tech-2 and the warning lights (both SVS and MIL) returned to their normal states without carrying out any repairs to the engine. Thereafter, I used the car for over one month without any problem.

Again, about a month ago, the SVS and MIL lights warned me of some malfunction. Again, there was no noticeable change in the car's performance, i.e., there were no symptoms of any problem except the warning lights. I took the car to Maruti Service and they again found DTC No. P0400, i.e., problem with EGR flow. They correctly diagnosed the root cause of the problem as excessive carbon deposits inside the EGR valve making its operation sluggish / erratic.

The problem was satisfactorily rectified by dismantling and cleaning the EGR valve. The following pictures will give you an idea of the procedure.

View of engine compartment with battery and air filter removed. The EGR vv. assembly (with electronic actuator removed) is seen inside the red rectangle

The EGR valve assembly removed from engine

Note the carbon accumulation inside EGR valve


EGR valve after cleaning


This nozzle injects exhaust gas from EGR vv into intake manifold. Note the carbon deposits.

EGR cooler being cleaned

EGR cooler after cleaning

After the EGR valve cleaning I drove the car from Jamshedpur to Delhi and back (about 3000 km; doing speeds upto 130 kmph) and there were no warning indications.

My personal impression after examining the EGR valve after dismantling was that there were substantial carbon deposits but they could not be called excessive -- the gas passage through the valve was not blocked (I ascertained it by blowing thro' the valve with my mouth). Also, I could operate (open / close) the valve by pushing it with my fingers -- it was not jammed (but could be a bit sluggish under actual working conditions). It must be said to the credit of the Multijet engine that its sensors and on-board computer are sensitive enough to detect problems well before they start hampering the car's performance.

Great improvements in NH33

Much work has been done on the NH33 (Barhi - Hazaribagh - Ramgarh - Ranchi - Jamshedpur - Ghatshila - Bahragora - Chichira) over the last couple of years and the road is presently in a fairly good condition except for a few very short stretches between Bahragora and Chichira (Jharkhand / W.B. border).

The way most highways are maintained in India, the newly laid surfaces usually last just a couple of years. In Jharkhand, the posts of the minister and babus in-charge of road construction are highly coveted because much money can be made in this dept. So though I am happy about the present condition of NH33, I'm not sure how long this happiness will last!

But I am making hay while the sun shines. I have stopped using trains for visiting Kolkata and always use my Swift. In the last one month alone I drove to Kolkata twice for attending some weddings. It takes about 5 hours to reach Kolkata from Jamshedpur and driving is quite enjoyable.

Highway dust on my car

I usually start early in the morning, around 5AM. Till Bahragora (100 km) I can comfortably do 80-90 kmph. The bad stretches between Bahragora and the West Bengal border (Chichira) slows one down but after crossing into W.B. the road (NH6) is once again good and 80-90 kmph can be maintained till Kharagpur.

The real driving fun starts at Kharagpur where the excellent 6-lane dual carriageway (part of the Golden Quadrilateral) to Kolkata starts. On this stretch my Swift effortlessly reaches upto 130 kmph. The only reason why I don't usually exceed 120-130 kmph is because most Indian drivers (bloody junglees) have not yet learnt how to use multi-lane carriageways and one often finds the slowest moving trucks and other vehicles coolly hogging the fast lane. Though most truckwallahs let you pass (however grudgingly or slowly), most buses and cars apparently feel offended when you want to overtake them and so one has no choice but to slow down and overtake from the left when the opportunity arises.

On the whole, with the present condition of NH33 and NH6, I quite enjoyed my recent drives from Jamshedpur to Kolkata and back. Apart from the thrill of some high speed driving, having the car at our disposal at Kolkata is a big convenience. The Swift VDi continues to perform admirably without any problem. I get a mileage of around 22 kmpl during these drives. I use only non-premium diesel.

The Swift has clocked 19,000 km. Most of it was obviously on the highways because my driving around in Jamshedpur is minimal due to my retired life.