'Sadak Suraksha Abhiyan' to be televised tomorrow to raise awareness on road safety

A four-hour telethon is set to take place on January 14 as part of the ‘Sadak Suraksha Abhiyan’. The initiative aims to raise awareness on the importance of road safety and tackle the immediate need to help bring forth behavioural change amongst people across India to make our roads safer for all road users.

The telethon will be televised on Network18 channels -- News18 India, CNN-News18, CNBC-TV18, and CNBC Awaaz -- from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm tomorrow.

According to a release, an outreach campaign has been envisioned with the objective of increasing awareness amongst people with regard to the dangers of not following traffic regulations and to help promote a sense of shared responsibility towards road safety.

The event will include families of road crash victims sharing their personal experiences and the work that they have done in the field of road safety: Shilpa Mittal, a crusader against underage driving; Savita Bhatti, actor, writer and activist; and Dr Shubhangi Sanjay Tambwekar and Mr Sanjay Achyut Tambwekar, co-founders of the Arundhati Foundation, will be part of the event.

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, actor Amitabh Bachchan, Isha Foundation Founder Sadhguru, Chairman of McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific Prasoon Joshi, and Founder and CEO of SaveLIFEFoundation Piyush Tewari will also be there to highlight the importance of stronger and stringent traffic laws and a penalty system to help avert accidents and subsequent fatalities and injuries.

Commenting on the initiative, Prasoon Joshi said, "Educating the masses as well as highlighting to other stakeholders the importance of road safety and instilling a sense of responsibility is the need of the hour."

Piyush Tewari said, "Roads are both shared assets as well as shared
responsibilities, and well-informed, responsible road users can join hands with the government to help take proactive steps towards making roads across India safer for themselves and others."