In an effort to acknowledge the contribution of Truckers in our everyday lives, TCI Foundation the social arm of Transport Corporation of India Ltd. India’s leading integrated supply chain and logistics solutions provider, organised a nationwide event “Trucker’s Utsav” at 73 trans shipment locations across the country.

The activity was organised as part of the events held to observe the world AIDS day under the National HIV / AIDS prevention program among long distance truck drivers and helpers which is an endeavor to arrest the spread of AIDS amongst the trucking community, supported by National AIDS Control Organization. ‘Trucker’s Utsav’, an infotainment event, forms one of the core activities of National Program as it acts as catalyst for communicating behavior change messages to sizable groups in a fun, peer-supportive context. This is done in an informal setting through the medium of concert, street plays, song &dance, games quizzes and special award for audience participation.

Speaking on the initiative, Mr Dr Indra R Singh project director of TCIF said that “Being the leading logistics company in India we think it is our responsibility to make life better for the truckers who are the lifeline for the sector. The Trucker’s Utsav is an annual feature of TCIF that provides a platform to bring thousands of truckers together to spread out the message on prevention of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases in an interesting, entertaining and stimulating way. We realize that owing to the nature of the work of the truckers, they are highly vulnerable to AIDS and other related diseases.”

There are about 5 million truckers in India, who travel across 3.3 million kilometres of India’s road network, out of which an estimated 2 million truckers travel on long distance routes with an average of 8000-10000 kms on an average in a month. The overall prevalence of HIV/AIDS among long-distance truckers has been reported to be 4.6% which is 12 times higher than the prevalence among men in general population.