Pledging to make Navi Mumbai safe
On 26 July 2018, YUVA and AkzoNobel inaugurated the second edition of Mission Salamati (Road Safety Awareness Programme) at YUVA Centre, Navi Mumbai. This is an initiative committed to making the roads of Navi Mumbai safe over the next year through a range of awareness and interactions planned . The inauguration was attended by Jayakumar Krishnaswamy (MD AkzoNobel India), Ajith K. (Manufacturing Head, AkzoNobel), and Dilip Swami (Traffic Police, RSP Head, Thane District), among others, with the audience mostly comprising of school children and college students from Jai Hind College. While the first edition of this programme focused on imparting road safety awareness among school children, reaching out to 4,000+ children across 20+ schools, this year we are looking forward to connecting with students in schools and colleges and community members across Navi Mumbai.
In the hour-long inauguration ceremony, each dignitary briefly spoke about the importance of road safety to the audience of youth and children, to help them and their parents stay safe on the roads. Common themes of the discussion included explaining traffic rules (particularly those applicable to children), reminding the students that ignoring rules means risking their own safety, and advocating for the students to act as ‘change agents’ by promoting these rules among their family and friends. The school children and college students present contributed to the discussion as well, presenting their own insightful thoughts about how to stay safe on roads.
After the ceremony, a short play on road safety was presented by the youth. The play used elements of comedy and had its attentive audience in fits of laughter, but also served a serious lesson on how unsafe practices on the road can lead to fatal injury. The afternoon ended with a quiz for the school children on the Golden Rules of Traffic, where three winners were given cash prizes sponsored by AkzoNobel.
A recent World Health Organisation report stated that over 2 lakh Indians die in road accidents each year. YUVA and Akzonobel are committed to educate and sensitise the youth on road safety to help reduce road accidents and fatalities.
Malaika Fernandes, Volunteer, YUVA
