Celebrating transport excellence

With innovative categories such as Lady Transport Personality and Youth Transport Personality of the Year, the Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards were a grand success. Held on January 9, 2013, the Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards honoured the unsung heroes of the Indian transport industry. These included people who demonstrated the RISE principles of 'Accepting No Limits', 'Alternative Thinking' and 'Driving Positive Change' in their daily life. The awards commenced with lighting of the lamp by Praful Patel, Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises in the presence of Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra; MF Farooqui, Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Ambuj Sharma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises; Dr Goenka, Director, Institute of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy; Nalin Mehta, Associate Professor, All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Bhaskar Das, Group CEO, Zee Network. Categories The awards recognised and rewarded the performance of all key stakeholders in the Indian transport sector. The categories in which these awards were presented included fleet owners, fleet drivers, dhaba owners, highway mechanics, and customised application builder and driver training initiative. The awards were attended by over 650 dignitories including key account customers, financiers, jury members, winners, nominees, agency heads and teams, dealers and the company's team members. The process In his address, Praful Patel elucidated on the importance of these awards and the operations of the Mahindra Group. This was followed by Nalin Mehta's presentation highlighting the awards process. Besides awarding the dhabas, mechanics and drivers, the awards also felicitated women and youth transporters. The Superoutperformer Driver Award - presented to Shiv Prasad, Fleet Driver, Artee Roadways who was handed over a brand new truck. In all 38 winners, including 28 regional and 10 national were felicitated. Pioneering initiatives The biggest attraction at this year's edition was the new and unique category, Lady Transporter and Lady Transport Personality of the Year. This is a pioneering initiative of the Mahindra Group to acknowledge the efforts of those who dared to enter this male bastion and made a difference. Chitra Shinde, President and Director, Gati-Kintetsu Express emerged as the winner in this category. The youth factor This year another category - the Youth Transport Personality of the Year - was introduced. Around 297 candidates applied for this award. Besides this, the event also launched MPOWER - a Management Development Programme meant for young transporters that will be scheduled at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, who, as the knowledge partners, have developed the program which is sponsored by Mahindra. "We want to help you to prepare yours¡elves for converting your ideas into business reality. It was necessary for us to play our part in teaching others, " said Mahindra. Deepak Baid, Director, Siddhi Vinayak Logistics won the Youth Transport Personality of the Year Award. Mahindra added, "We are keen that we also focus on what is traditionally called the softer aspects - building a place in the minds and hearts of people from our ecosystem." (Communication by the management of the company)