The Mahindra Truck and Bus Division and the Natural Habitat Preservation (NHP) Centre have jointly announced that they will support the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) in its ambitious road safety program through a national awareness campaign #HaveaSafeJourney (#HASJ). Started on August 15, the campaign will last till October 15.
Under the aegis of the #HASJ campaign, there will be a contest for the best 30 short stories related to road safety issues, which will later be brought out in the form of a book early next year. #HASJ stems out of the firm belief that literature can serve as an effective medium to connect and engage with people, particularly amongst the younger generation, for promoting awareness. Writing stories about negligence and casual approach to the road safety norms can strike a chord with almost everyone. This will be the world’s first collection of short stories on road safety issues.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rajeev Lochan, Director – Road Safety, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, reiterated the Government’s commitment to reduce road accidents in the country significantly by 2020. “Every road accident inflicts heavy losses for the families affected, besides impacting the country’s economy as a whole. As such, the Government stands committed to reducing fatalities by newer and innovative means of spreading awareness. #HASJ is a promising step in that direction. I congratulate Mahindra Trucks and Buses and NHP Centre for collaborating on this unique initiative and wish it great success. The Government will support the initiative in all possible ways.”
According to Mr. Nalin Mehta, Managing Director, Mahindra Truck and Bus Ltd., said: “At Mahindra we are committed towards making India’s roads safer. The #HASJ initiative is our endeavour to educate people on road safety. In fact, road safety is expected to improve significantly when every component of the road ecosystem has safety as an inherent virtue.”
He added: “Mahindra Truck and Bus is a challenger brand in the commercial vehicle space and is strongly focused on working closely with the road transport ecosystem to drive positive change. We are proud to be associated with this very noble initiative to drive positive change in the society, which we at Mahindra call, “Rise for Good!” Going forward we will undertake multiple activities to help imbibe values of road safety.”
Mr. Sumant Batra, Founder, NHP Centre and Director, #HASJ, observed: “Literature, as a form of intellectual culture, has the potential to both, entertain and educate. A story can expose readers to different places, time periods, viewpoints and cultures. Readers can gain experiences through literature they would never have access to in ordinary life. NHP Centre has successfully initiated a series of projects to apply literary art to capture the imagination and depict the lives of others to increase readers’ ability to empathize with others.”
Mr. Tuhin A. Sinha, Author and Advisor, MoRTH, added: “There is hardly an urban family in India which is unaffected by the scourge of road accidents. The way to make people responsible is often not through preaching but by laying out a situation to them in interesting, creative and more palatable forms. #HASJ aspires to make our road safety campaign more relatable and engaging for the educated urban Indian.”