Vibhor Mohan, November 11, 2013
CHANDIGARH: Two Chandigarh-based NGOs have bagged Volvo Sustainable Mobility Award-2013.
ArriveSAFE was declared as Winner for its sustained efforts on making Indian roads safer and for working towards reducing the number of road crashes especially due to drunken driving. The Swedish ambassador to India said the Sustained Mobility couldn't be achieved till we make our roads safe. Sweden is working on "Vision Zero", a road traffic safety project that was started in 1997 with an aim to achieve a highway system with no fatalities or serious injuries in road traffic.
Project Ecocabs was declared the Runner-Up for launching the World's First Dial-a-Rickshaw facility. It provides a pollution free, safe mobility in cities and for making non-motorized transport a sustainable mode of transport. This, when the most of the transport professionals are focusing only on car-centric approach. Starting from Fazilka, EcoCab is now operational in 23 cities of Punjab including recent launch in Chandigarh.
The Volvo Sustainable Mobility Award was instituted by Volvo buses in 2011 with the aim to reward progressive and practical solutions in the areas of promoting sustianable mobility. The Award is given under the aegis of the Sweden-India Noble Memorial Week and during the Volvo Noble Memorial Seminar on Sustianable Transportation. The award, now in its 3rd Edition, aims to motivate progressive and practical steps that deliver sustainable transport solutions and thereby improve the quality of life.
The Embassy of Sweden partners with topmost authorities & experts from all over India and with Swedish businesses and companies have been organizing the Sweden-India Nobel Memorial Week since 2007.
Harald Sandberg, Ambassador of Sweden to India, mentioned this year's Awards as "special" as they coincided with the Centenary Year of the India's first Nobel laureate Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore in the field of Literature. The Volvo Sustainable Mobility Award aims at creating a culture of supporting progressive and practical steps, positively engaging the world around to deliver sustainable transport solutions and thereby better quality of life to millions of people. More than 130 entries were sent from Organizations from all across the country.
Harman Singh Sidhu from ArriveSAFE was given the Award by His Excellency Harald Sandberg, Ambassador of Sweden to India and Ashok on behalf of Team Ecocabs was given the Awards by Akash Passey, Sr-Vice President, Volvo Buses India at Bangalore.
