Cargo Motors (P) Ltd.

YASH PAL NANDA
A PIONEER WHO PUT THE KUTCH ON WHEELS

The timeless beauty of the Kutch is overwhelming in its starkness. A perpetual challenge to those who have sought to make a livelihood in its vastness to tame as desert sands.

Mr.Yash Pal Nanda was among those who in the mid-Fifties took on the challenge when TELCO offered him the dealership for their heavy vehicles in the difficult district of Kutch at Kandla.(Gandhidham)

The story of the pioneer who literally put the Kutch on wheels is irrevocably entwined with the eventual growth and prosperity of this Region, and its simple but honest people who remember Mr.Y.P.Nanda with gratitude, and more important, with the affection of a dearone.

Mr.Nanda could easily understand their hardships and their struggles.

A legend in the transport sector when he suddenly passed away on 24th April 1995, Yash Pal Nanda was born in to a Zamindar family in the Jeranwala tehsil of Lyalpur in West Punjab on 18th August 1925. His father, Ram Lal gave him a good education, and youngYash passed the Matriculation Examination from Lyalpur. The young man struck out on his own, working for a time with the famous F.C.College in Lahore, before the Partition of India forced the family to flee the newly created West Pakistan, destitute as so many others.

Mr.Nanda migrated to India in 1947 and settled in Delhi. The young man saw hope even on dark moments, and found opportunity in the New India. He started his career in the Automobile Trade, beginning with Sales and Purchase, and soon diversified in to financing automobile purchases.

Married to Raj Kumari on 6th October 1949 Yash Pal Nanda boldly ventured out, introducing the first transport company in Palia, in District Lakhimpur Kheri of Uttar Pradesh, another backward area. He had already launched the first Passenger Bus Transport Service in this hinterland, which barely had serviceable roads in those early years. He finance the local farmers to purchase tractors and truck as mechanization took route in the lush terai agriculture. Even the farmer’s son, Nanda took to the soil once again, entering farming in a big way even as he helped modernise the agriculture sector in the region.

He was now a well known name in the Transport and Automobile Sector, and India’s Biggest Automobile Company, TELCO, offered him its dealership for the District of Kutch at Gandhidham /Kandla (Gujarat). In the year 1959, he incorporated his company the CARGO MOTORS PRIVATE LIMITED and came to Kutch for the first time to establish a TELCO Dealership at Gandhidham-Kutch (Gujarat).

At the time, Kutch was an isolated desert area, with a very few transport vehicles and hardly any exposure to the transport business. Mr.Nanda introduced and involved the people of Kutch with the Transport business and took the TELCO vehicles into the most remote village, motivating the people to use the new vehicles, giving them the necessary help.

With its natural instinct for farming he converted large desolate and barren lands in to green areas- his own farm became a trendsetting model. Scientific farming methods were inculcated in the people, and long before ecology became a fashionable word, the methods he propagated resulted in the conservation of much needed water. Throughout his life, Nanda was to continue his abiding interest and faith in ecology and conservation, taking a keen interest in tree plantation.

The man who had come from Pakistan with little in his hand never lost the common touch even as his own business flourished. His easy accessibility, and his sound guidance encouraged the local people to venture into this business, with the results that Shepherds, Peasants, Farmers and even grocers started buying Tata Vehicles. The new mobility gave them the courage to move out of the confines of the desert, and to do business with neighbouring towns, and then even far off states .

Within a short span of time, the economic scenario of the state was completely changed, bringing employment and prosperity to the people. The development of the transport Industry in Kandla (Gandhidham) contributed in a big way to the success of Kandla Port and today CARGO MOTORS PRIVATE LTD. stands tall as a Land Mark in the Map of Kandla Port.

In the early 70’s Mr.Nanda was offered the business of transporting TELCO Chassis to various destinations in India. Because of his ability and Leadership qualities he was unanimously elected President of the Telco Transport Contractors Association and also the President of the Drivers Welfare Association, a unique combination. The drivers considered him as their messiah as he got them fairplay and justice in their various problems.

Mr. Nanda cultivated the potential of the people and made them realize their worth.His genuine affection, sensitivity and generosity earned him a revered place in the hearts of the people. TELCO has carefully observed the transformation he had brought, and soon the company bestowed him with another district of Jamnagar in Gujarat for the sales and service of TATA vehicle. A quick succession of other dealerships followed – in 1981 the districts of Jalandhar , Amritsar , Gurdaspur and Kapurthala in Punjab.

In the long years of his TELCO dealership , Mr. Nanda had also helped pioneer the Motor Parts sector now a full fledged business sector. He himself was the leading trader for TELCO Spare Parts.

In 1983 Maruti Udyog Limited offered Mr.Nanda its dealership for the new people’s car for the State of Gujarat. Under his able guidance and leadership the company opened its Outlets in Ahmedabad, Baroda, Rajkot and Gandhidham, earning consumer respect and loyalty with unmatched after Sales Service. The Company ranked the TOP 10 dealership in India and earned many awards of recognition.

Well established in the transport business in Gandhidham Kandla, he offered to transport the Maruti CKDs from Kandla Port to the MUL factory at Gurgaon, helping Maruti save millions in freight cost and time. In 1988 TELCO again bestowed upon him dealerships of Tata Vehicles in the Districts of Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Baroda, Banaskanths, Sabarkantha and Panchmahal a fitting recognition of his pioneering zeal and trust his name evoked in the trade and the public.

Presently Cargo Motors Pvt.Ltd. is having Tata Motors Dealership for Sales, Service and Spare Parts at all important locations in Gujarat starting from Gandhidham, Bhuj (Kutch), Jamnagar, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Baroda, Mehsana, Palanput, Anand, Himatnagar and Godhra. In the future developments Mundra, Deesa and Dwaraka is under process and the efforts are to cover most of the rural and urban stations.

Business successes and acclaim never really changed the man. Mr Nanda remained a modest person throughout his life. He was sensitive to the needs of his employees and his natural compassion and liking for people endeared him to thousands in all walks of life. He contributed generously to many religious and social organisations.

Not only an authority on Automobiles, Mr.Nanda was a man of varied interests and qualities. His passion for music, sports the environment matched his keen insight into the basic values dear to human beings. A born crusader for the under privileged and the poor, he fought tirelessly for their cause, as much by word as by his own personal generosity.

Mr.Yash Pal Nanda was a Nationalist and Patriot who took great pride in being an Indian. His affable nature and charming smile won him many friends not only in India but in dozens of countries where the call of business and the interest of the automobile sector took him.

Mr.Nanda will be remembered for his compassion, his benevolence, and above all his pioneering spirit which neither the trauma of partition nor the hard climes of the Kutch or the terai could dampen, a man with the magic touch which transformed all those who knew him.

Mr.Nanda was bestowed with the title of Bhishma Pitamaha of Transport Industry by people of Kutch as a tribute on his death.