RIL advises its employees not to drink and drive

Drunk driving is a serious problem that continues to take thousands of lives every year. Unlike food, alcohol doesn't digest but gets absorbed in the bloodstream, moving to all important organs, such as liver, heart, brain - which coordinates all our activities.

After the June 9 high-profile car crash, which involved a woman employee of Reliance Industries Limited’s (RIL’s) legal unit, the Mukesh Ambani-led company advised its employees to ensure that those in an inebriated state are not allowed to drive. This was revealed in an Economic Times report.

"If you're planning to drink alcohol, also plan how to home without having to drive yourself," as per an elaborate advisory issued by RIL on June 12 in the wake of relentless media coverage of an accident involving Janhavi Gadkar, who is in judicial custody after her Audi crashed into a taxi on Mumbai's freeway and caused two deaths.

On June 13, RIL has also alerted the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that the senior executive with whom Gadkar had been drinking on the evening of June 8 was its chief financial officer Alok Agarwal. Later, Agarwal was summoned by the Mumbai Police as a witness in the case. For good measure, the advisory warned employees against breaking any law such as those on possession of undeclared foreign exchange, narcotics and prohibited wildlife items.

The RIL mail said, "A large proportion of all drunk driving crashes occur within three miles of the start of the journey. Don't offer an alcoholic drink to someone you know is planning to drive."

"It also must be kept in mind that while major lapses of law and social behaviour are usually prevented, very often seemingly minor mistakes can and do result in improper conduct," as per the advisory issued by RIL.

Nirmala Menon, founder of Interweave Consulting, a diversity and inclusion solutions company, told ET, "If it is a reaction to the crash then it is the right thing to do for the company and employees need to be sent a strong message that the organisation will not tolerate any such behaviour." (Image: www.highriskautopros.ca)