MUMBAI: With a view to dramatically reduce the high number of road crash deaths on the Mumbai Pune Expressway (MPEW), the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), has today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, India’s leading SUV manufacturer and road safety NGO SaveLIFE Foundation. The collaboration will attempt to transform the MPEW into a “zero fatality corridor”, over the next 3-4 years.
The collaboration also includes Maharashtra Highway Police, IRB Infrastructure, DY Patil University, Ogilvy, JP Research and several hospitals including those in the vicinity of the expressway. The initiative will focus on improving the four E’s of road safety on MPEW, panning across Engineering, Emergency Care, Enforcement and Education.
The initiative was launched by Shri Eknath Shinde, Minister of Public Works and Shri Vijay Deshmukh, Minister of State for Public Works, Government of Maharashtra in the presence of senior leadership from MSRDC, Mahindra & Mahindra, SaveLIFE Foundation and other partners.
“MSRDC is committed to create the safest roads in India and hence associated with SaveLIFE Foundation and Mahindra & Mahindra on this unique initiative. We invite the general public to support us in this initiative by ensuring they drive safely on the expressway”, noted Shri RL Mopalwar, MD and Vice Chairman of MSRDC.
Speaking on the occasion, Veejay Ram Nakra, Senior Vice President, Sales & Customer Care, Automotive Division, M&M Ltd, said “As responsible corporate citizens, we at Mahindra are committed towards making India’s roads safer. In fact road safety is expected to improve significantly when every component of the road system including the vehicle, road infrastructure, traffic engineering, driver training, road etiquette, enforcement, education, awareness, as well as the laws that govern the road system, have safety as an inherent virtue. Hence this initiative is our contribution to make roads safer. It has always been our endeavour to educate people about road safety and going forward we will undertake multiple activities to help imbibe values of road safety.”
Mahindra & Mahindra will be supporting the initiative under its “Rise for Good” Corporate Social Responsibility program and will also contribute by way of employee volunteer time.
SaveLIFE Foundation, recognised for its work in the area of road safety and emergency medical care, conceptualised the project along with MSRDC and Government of Maharashtra. “Road Safety has to be a collaborative effort to be successful. We are thankful to MSRDC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maharashtra Police and all other partners for coming together with us to attempt this unique initiative”, stated Jayant Banthia, the Former Chief Secretary of Maharashtra and the Chief Mentor of the initiative at SaveLIFE Foundation.
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