JK Tyre’s Invests in 100 Toilets as Swachh Bharat Campaign in 1 Year

As a homegrown company rooted to real issues in the country, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd has been committed to contributing to the society, including improving health and sanitation facilities in places that are most in need of them. In 2016-17, the company directed its efforts towards aligning with the Government’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, setting up more than 1100 toilets in rural areas in 17 villages in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu & Karnataka, wherein our manufacturing plants are located. Aimed at alleviating the issue of open-defecation and raising awareness about the related health and security benefits of using toilets among the people, JK Tyre put its weight behind implementing a sanitation project in these villages.

JK Tyre officials put a check mechanism in place to ensure the maintenance and upkeep of the newly-built toilets by monitoring the conditions and water supply at periodic intervals. Regularly engaging stakeholders, including beneficiaries and reputed NGOs helped in the efficient delivery of sanitation services in the villages covered by the programme.

Pradyumna Pandey, Vice President-HR, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd, said, “We have adopted an integrated two-pillar approach to address the problem of open defecation, an important factor contributing to health problems, specially in rural areas. We partnered with different stakeholders, including the Government, to work towards removing inconveniences in the proper maintenance of sanitation facilities, such as accessibility to water and hygiene in the use of a toilet. Our aim is to work with the Government to establish easily accessible individual household  toilets in rural areas so that India can become an open defecation-free nation by 2019. By building toilets in public places, particularly in schools, we also wanted to address another important issue that concerns security of girls and of their dropouts due to a lack of toilets. JK Tyre will continue to extend this initiative to other areas that lack such services.”

According to a report, about 23% of adolescent girls drop out from school every year due to lack of basic sanitation facilities. By providing basic amenities such as clean toilets and water, JK Tyre aims to create a long-term sustainable solution to this issue.

Ramnath Batham, Sarpanch village Panchayat Noorabad, Dist Morena, Madhya Pradesh, said, “it is matter of great pride for us that our village will be open defecation free very soon with active support of JK Tyre.  Earlier, village elders & women use to face difficulties more specifically during rains and sickness, while now it’s a thing of past now. “

JK Tyre has been working to drive awareness around the building and usage of toilets, and has invested in the construction and renovation of school buildings, anganwadis, community centres and public toilets to facilitate better sanitation facilities. The company plans to work for the construction of around 2000 individual household toilets during FY 2017-18.

Part of the JK Organisation, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd is a leading tyre manufacturer in India and amongst the top 25 manufacturers in the world with a wide range of products catering to diverse business segments in the automobile industry. JK Tyre is the only tyre manufacturer in India to be included in the list of Superbrand in 2017, the sixth time the honour has been conferred upon the company.

JK Tyre has global presence in 100 countries across six continents, backed by production support from 12 plants - 9 in India and 3 in Mexico. Currently, the capacity across all its plants is about 35 million tyres per annum. In April 2016 JK Tyre acquired Cavendish India Limited from Birla Tyres. While acquisition added three modern plants to its portfolio taking the total count to 12, it helped the tyre major foray into the two/three wheeler segment as well.

Pioneers of radial technology, JK Tyre produced the first radial tyre in 1977 and is currently the market leader in Truck Bus Radial segment. With over three decades of technological innovation, JK Tyre offers tyre for entire range of passenger and commercial vehicles, starting from a 3 kg two-wheeler tyre to a 3.5 ton OTR tyre.

JK Tyre & Industries Ltd has a strong network of 4000 dealers and over 230 dedicated outlets branded as Steel-Wheels & has over 25 Truck Wheels providing complete solutions to Truck Tyre customers.