6th edition puts focus on road safety
Road safety and innovation marked the essence of the 6th edition of the Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards program held on February 3 in New Delhi. As in the previous five editions, the one-of-its-kind award function brought together the who’s who of the Indian road transport sector, honoring the various outperformers and hidden champions of the country’s transport industry.
Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards recognizes and rewards various stakeholders in the trucking industry based on parameters like Outperformance, Excellence, Innovation and Change Leadership, judged against the backdrop of three RISE pillars – Accepting No Limits, Alternative Thinking and Driving Positive Change. The initiative, with its inclusive nature, has set high standards for itself, growing into one of the most popular awards in the transport sector in the country.
Testimony to the fact that the popularity and equity of the Awards has gone up amongst the constituents of the transport community, this year’s Awards saw a significantly higher number of case studies collected – 6,164 – which is14 per cent higher than last year. With the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) extending its support for the program for the fourth consecutive year, besides large numbers, the entries also exhibited better quality, more interesting stories and stronger pitch, giving a feel that the Transport Excellence Awards have come of age.
The audience of the evening included prominent truck fleets owners, transporters and logistics company heads and professionals, commercial vehicle financiers, dealers of commercial vehicles and senior delegates from the transport sector, faculty members from IIM, Ahmedabad, and delegates from the Mahindra Group and heads of various agencies and select media delegates who took immense interest and relished the proceedings of the Awards function.
Limelight on road safety
As has been the practice since its inception, the Awards evening commenced with a panel discussion, with this year’s topic being a pertinent one – ‘Innovations in road safety in Approach, Processes, Measures and Perspective’. Prof. G. Raghuram, Professor, Public Systems Group, IIM, Ahmedabad, chaired the panel discussion that brought together an interesting and diverse mix of stakeholders on a common platform – Ms. Yogita Raghuvanshi, Lady Truck Driver, Mr. Jay Prakash Singh, Super Outperformer Driver (2016), Mr. Ravi Prasad, Chief Engineer, Road Safety, MoRTH, Mr. Rajan Wadhera, President and Chief Executive, Truck and Powertrain Division, Head, MRV and Member, Group Executive Board, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., Prof Tamorish Kole, Chair, Academic Council, Society for Emergency Medicine and Advisor, Savelife Foundation and Ms. Prerna Arora Singh, Road Safety Expert, Advocate and Educationist. The discussion brought out thought-provoking ideas, throwing light on the practical challenges related to road safety and ways to overcome the same.
The outperformers
The 6th edition of the Awards included many category innovations, including an Outperformer Contest for the 2,408 Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan (MSA) scholarship beneficiaries and a Short Story Contest titled ‘Have a Safe Journey’ on Road Safety. Innovation ran high on the evening with a drone aerially delivering the cover of the book, ‘Have a Safe Journey’, to the dignitaries on stage for the unveil ceremony. The first-ever such book, which would feature 20 best stories by writers from the literary community, also carried a foreword from Mr. Nitin Gadkari and a special message from Mr. Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group.
Mr. Jay Prakash Singh, driver at Bharti Bulk Carriers, won a Mahindra BLAZO 25 truck after being chosen as the ‘Super Outperformer Driver of the Year’. As a responsible driver and family man, he not only saved many lives by using his presence of mind by shutting the safety valve of a Hazardous chemical tanker during one of his truck journeys but also successfully passed each step of stringent Driver Jury process comprising of psychomotor & psychometric tests, traffic rules and medical tests.
The ‘Youth Transport Personality of the Year’ was awarded to Mr. Jeehan Adil Kotwal, Chief Executive Officer, JFK Transporters Pvt. Ltd., for the Rise Pillar Driving Positive Change, with the ‘Lady Transport Personality of the Year’ going to Ms. L. Arthi, Director, Finance, AST Group of Companies for Driving Positive Change.
While prominent CV Financiers Cholamandalam Finance and Axis Bank took the top honors in their category, the National Winner of the Emerging Fleet Owner Award was given to Greenways Shipping Agencies Pvt. Ltd., with the Runner-up trophy going to Suncity Transport Company.
A star attraction and a very important highlight of this year’s Awards was the Safety Awards instituted at the behest of MoRTH, for promoting safe transportation across various terrains and climate. Prominent fleet owners Sankari Roadways and Inland World Logistics bagged this most coveted Award.
In the Highway Dhaba category, Krushna Bhojanalaya from the Western region was adjudged the National Winner.
Mahindra’s commitment continues
Mr. Nalin Mehta, CEO and Managing Director, Mahindra Truck and Bus Division, presented the report card of the Awards program, reaffirming the company’s commitment to continue, strengthen and make more relevant, its RISE initiative. He shared with the audience the fact that the Awards program was becoming bigger and better with every passing year and was attracting better quality entries, which is heartening news. Mr. Bharat Rajamani, Executive Director, Ernst & Young, provided the customary certification for fairness, robustness and transparency of the awards selection process.
Dr. Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., addressed the gathering about road safety and the initiatives taken by Mahindra, including the Zero Fatality Corridor and ‘Have a Safe Journey’ book. In his speech, Dr. Goenka brought live the role of every individual towards road safety by asking the guests to hold the mirror to themselves to remind them that each one has a responsibility towards safety. He also applauded the role of MoRTH in promoting the cause of road safety and reaffirmed Mahindra’s commitment to the same. The issue of road safety was also brought into spotlight by him through a film titled ‘Main Sadak Hoon’.
Dr. Goenka further emphasized Mahindra’s commitment towards green technology by felicitating Mr. T.K. Balakumar, Sr. Vice President and National Head of Operations at BigBasket perhaps the first owner of an electric cargo fleet in India of 10 Mahindra eSUPROs for their vision of going green.
Following Dr. Pawan Goenka’s address, the Road Transport & Highways Minister, Mr. Nitin J. Gadkari, who presided over the event which his Ministry has been supporting, lauded the Mahindra CSR initiative, Saarthi Abhiyaan for Driver Girl Child Education and the fact that besides scholarships, the truck drivers were given an opportunity to own a brand new truck. He appreciated the initiative to develop the eSupro which contributes towards a pollution-free environment and stressed upon the usage of ethanol-based alternative fuel vehicles. He also praised Mahindra’s focus on road safety and recognizing outperformers across various stakeholders. He spoke about Indian road transport growth and cited many reasons to believe in the growth story like scrappage policy and infrastructure growth.
Mr. Rajan Wadhera, President and Chief Executive, Truck and Powertrain Division, Head, MRV and Member, Group Executive Board, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., highlighted MTBD’s contribution towards knowledge power that is doing wonders to the transporters in both their personal and professional lives through the initiatives under the umbrella of Light of Knowledge comprising of MPOWER, War Room and Mentors’ Summit in conjunction with the prestigious, Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. He also spoke about Mahindra’s CSR initiatives revolving round Girl Child and Education by highlighting initiatives such as Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan (MSA) and how it has taken the initiative forward by introducing the MSA Outperformers Contest. He shared encouraging figures about the educational achievements of MSA girls. Over 2100 girls responded to the survey. More than 66% have pursued education beyond 12th standard and 25% are studying professional courses.
Following Mr. Wadhera’s address, the four Saarthi Abhiyaan Outperformers were felicitated with their family members. Ms. Pooja Jakate was declared the national winner of the Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan Outperformer for the Rise pillar Driving positive change.
MTBD’s signature brand property, now 6 editions old, aimed at honoring the unsung heroes of road transport, Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards continues to strengthen the brand while delivering respect, self-esteem and recognitions to multiple stakeholders of the Indian Road Transport Ecosystem.