New Delhi: The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India plans to impart driving lessons to atleast 5 lakh people, including one lakh from the weaker sections of society, in the next three years.
“We will be training five lakh drivers in the next three years, of which one lakh will be from the economically challenged sections,” MSI Chairman R C Bhargava had said yesterday while inaugurating the ‘National Road Safety Mission´ by the company.
He said modernisation of the automobile industry was incomplete unless people learnt to drive safely for themselves and for others on the road.
“The country does not have infrastructure to teach people how to drive correctly and we have taken upon ourself to play a part in training drivers,” Bhargava said.
He said the focus on economically weaker section was a part of the MSI’s corporate-social-responsibility programme and it would play a role in making those people employable.
MSI currently operates two Institute of Driving Training and Research and 47 driving schools in the country. This training initiative of the company has benefited about five lakh people so far, out of which over 50% are women.
“Over the next one year, we plan to add 4-5 IDTRs and are targeting 130 new driving schools by March 2010,” he said.
MSI would unveil one IDTR in Haryana next week, while one more would be added in Gujarat by the end of this fiscal. It has also signed up with Uttarakhand government for the same last week.
Blaming the system of issuing driving licences without proper training in India, Bhargava asked the state governments to tighten the process.
“It is a big blot on our administration, when people are being given licences without proper training and tests,” he added.