HYDERABAD: She was inquisitive, vibrant and was reading the word ‘Ramzan.’ Immediately her excited eyes turned to her mom and her tender finger pointed to the word on the hoarding. She asked her mother what Ramzan meant, and suddenly a boy, barely a few years older to her, not in his senses ran into her and shattered, not just her but her family and her dreams. They say smallest coffins are the heaviest! Monika’s coffin was way too heavy that the entire nation tried but couldn’t carry it. Her tender body was crashed for no fault of hers. She lost her life for somebody’s pleasure. One incident and an entire family fragmented into pieces, which can never be patched. This incident made chills run down under our spines and triggered the boiling point of our blood.
They say it takes one idea, staunch faith and undeterred determination to change the world. Nanda Sandilya with more than 20 years of experience in IT and a business development lead from North America came up with the vision of Mission Smart Ride, which is a global campaign started officially in India on December 31, 2015 with a goal to implement zeroDUI (zero driving under the influence initiative and zero drinking underage initiative) solution framework in every city and state.
“One day, our KTR sir asked me to suggest an idea to develop our state. I put forth my the idea of Mission Smart Ride to him. He was floored. I showed a report to Jayesh Ranjan on how I had participated in an initiative taken up by Mayor of a city in New Jersey. We had cut down drunken driving accidents upto 65 percent in 100 days. He was totally impressed and asked we could come up with something similar for Telangana too,” Nanda informs about the inception.
In 2015, there were approximately 1,62,000 traffic deaths occurred, which were directly related to road accidents involving motor vehicle. About 75-80 percent of this number occurred due to drunken driving. About 40 percent of deaths that occur are those of citizens who have not participated in drunk driving but are innocent people caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. This problem is on the rise and has touched two million deaths worldwide in last few years. It’s unfortunate, India holds the world record for the highest number of road accidents that occur annually, according to a report released by the WHO in 2010.
Nanda, who was unhappy about having India on the top for the wrong reasons, invested time and thought in sketching a plan to eradicate drunken driving menace from the grassroot level in the state. MSR was given birth. “The programme has been launched with the sole purpose of achieving zero driving under the influence of alcohol on streets and highways and prevent underage drinking. We are a team of four and under the leadership of KTR and Jayesh Ranjan and also supported by prohibition and excise commissioner and enforcement departments in the state government, we could execute this public service initiative. So far we have trained and certified more than 85% bars, having one staff or executive on zeroDUI compliance program out of 535 bars in Hyderabad. We plan to complete 100% by August 31,” he informs.
Nanda went on to elaborate, “There are nearly 15,000 bar employees in the city and we could train one from each bar, which makes 600 bar employees. We want to train the rest of the 14,400 employees with the help of all the departments.
With the help of government, we can push the bar of achieving our target. We request government and corporations in the value chain to commit 1% resources to eliminate or prevent drunk driving and drinking underage.We have incorporated zeroDUI compliance posters in all bars of Hyderabad, Ranga reddy and Cyberabad.”
The initiative is simple and workable. If Mr. XYZ is a bar employee and if he has served us, one or more drinks, he would politely request us to take a cab, provided by the bar itself, either for free of cost or discounted fare. If we have a car, he could request us to take the help of their driver and reach home safely. “Drinking is a personal choice. Suffering is also your choice. But one has got no right to harm our fellow beings. Our liver can process only one beer in one hour. If we have consumed more one, it is our responsibility to make a smart decision of taking a smart ride, as guided by the bar employee. It saves lives,” he requests the fellow citizens with utmost concern.
“A 0.5% increase of tax is not going to make anyone quit drinking. This 0.5 percent would go to the transport services being provided,” Nanda informs. “We have not collaborated with the wine shops as people spend more time at the bars and restaurants,” he further adds.
With the support of his family and friends from Osmania Chemical Engineering, Nanda has come a long way with this initiative.
“For the first time in history, all the stake holders in the liquor value chain are going to meet and do a MOU for making it a zero drunk driving and zero underage drinking in Telangana. Bandaru Dattatreya, KTR, Narasimha Reddy, K Keshava Rao, P Mahender Reddy (minister) and Mahender Reddy (Commissioner) and many more dignitaries would be present at the MoU exchange programme,” he shares with pride and hope. “We are planning to launch with five other states too,” he adds.
The official partners of MSR are Govt. of Telangana, Directorate of Enforcement, UBER, Narne Estates, J Walter Thompson (communication partner), Grey Logic (technology partner), Dr Devika Rani, drug counselling lead, Pernod Ricard, Ashoka Driver services, D Venkat Rao, president, Telangana Wine Dealers Association.