TAF CEO Ride 2014

TAF Hyderabad CEOs Cycling Ride held

250 CEOs participated in a first of its kind of Bicycle Ride of Hyderabad CEOs organised by Atlanta Foundation and supported by Telangana State IT Dept

“Ride for Life”, a new Premier India’s First Bicycle Magazine Cover unveiled

Atlanta expands to Chennai. To organize similar Bicycle Rides there. Has already expanded to Delhi earlier Representatives of various Industrial bodies to meet Chief Minister KCR this month on 22nd to formulate Telangana Government’s Industrial Policy as well as Sectoral Policies: Minister K.T. Rama Rao

T Government to give a shape to the proposal it has received for the construction of a Cycling Track along side the Outer Ring road adjoining service road to hold international cycling events or competitions.: KTR

Hyderabad, July 19.. The India’s biggest ever Cycling Events organizing NGO, The Atlanta Foundation(TAF) organsied a first of its kind Hyderabads CEOs Bicycle Ride-2014 here in city today. The same was flagged off on Saturday morning by Mr. K.T. Rama Rao, Minister for Information and Technology, Govt of Telangana and Deepika and Narasimhan the students of Gachibowli High School who are the winners of Atlanta Learnacium Trophy here in city at Hotel Westin, in Raheja Mindspace at Madhapur.

The Ride was flagged of in the morning dot 7am as scheduled. It was participated by NVS Reddy MD of HMR, Jayesh Ranjan, MD of TSIIC, CV Anand, Commissioner of Police Cyberabad, Lakshmi Narayanan, former CEO and current Vice Chairman of Cognizant Technology Solutions Amarnath Atmakuri, CEO at Institute for Electronic Governance/ Jawahar Knowledge Centers; Venkatesh Airtel CEO, Ravindranath, Raheja Corp; Mandeep Singh, Head of Vodafone; Avinash Mohanty, DCP Traffic; Anu Acharya, CEO of Map My Genome; Vagish Dixit, MD of Alpla India Pvt. Ltd, Murali B of TiE, Ramesh Loganathan, President of HYSEA; DR. Srinubabu Gedela, CEO of OMICS Group, Aveek Mukherjee, MD of Wells Fargo India Solutions; Skakthi Sagr, Head of ADP; Ramesh Kaza, American Express, Rajendra, Group Delivery Head of Techmahindra, Saritha, Director of Gayatri Projects, Laxman Reddy, 70years old Chairman of St. Martin’s Engineering College and many others.
The Riders immediately after the flag off rode their bicycles for 10 kilometers and came back to Westin for a Chat with Mr. Rama Rao, Minister of Information and Technology.

Addressing the 500 plus gathering the Mr. Rama Rao congratulated those who completed 10kms and wished those who didn’t finish all the best for Freedom Ride, another landmark Cycling event to be held on 15th August at Gachibowli Stadium, where a record number of 10,000 bicyclists are expected to participate.

We want Hyderabad to be the most preferred IT destination in the country Taraka Rama Rao declared. So work this us. guide us, navigate us to achieve this distinction, he told the gathering. Our city needs more events. Lot of cultural. Lifestyle events must be held. We will soon give a shape to the proposal, the T Government has received for the construction of a Cycling Track along side the Outer Ring road to hold international cycling events or competitions, Rama Rao informed. Speaking further he said a Start Up Festival will be held in August. What we lack when compared with Bangalore which register a software exports worth Rs 21 Billion US Dollars while Hyderabad makes 8 billion is Tehnoloogy Ecosystem and readily employable workforce. We are seriously looking at these, he informed. Towards this end we will encourage more start ups. We will set up a T-Hub to encourage start ups along with the incubation centre later this year at IIIT Campus in Hyderabad. Which in next two years will become a stand alone campus for biggest incubation center supported by the Government. The Hub will have partners such as ISB for Business Mentorship, IIIT as Technology Mentorship and Nalsar Mentorship for Intellectual Property

We are also planning to organize a Start Up Fest in August at ISB. 1500 start ups are expected to take part in the same, he informed.

Lakshmi Narayanan, the former CEO and the current Vice-Chairman of one of the fastest-growing top-tier IT Caompanies, Cognizant Technology Solutions, said they would like to take these Cycling events to Chennai very soon. He also said their company in city is the third highest employer among Cognizant companies in India. Off total 1,90,000 people it employees, 1,40,000 are employed in India alone he said.

Speaking on the occasion NVS, Managing Director of HMR said cities all over the world are made by mistake. The city that is built for the convenience of its people such as women, children, differently abled are the cities in reckoning. Cities that have last mile connectivity are the better cities. What could be the better way than the bicycle to connect that last mile, he said. Our Metro Rail system is well connected with bicycles. We will have Bicycle Stations at all the 66 Railway Stations. With the metro we will make Hyderabad, one of the most liveable city. We will make the city one of the best cities in the world. Cycle once upon a time was a common mans mode of transportation. Now the richest of the city are also getting in to cycling is a good sign, he observed

Jayesh Ranajan said nearly two lakh people work in various IT companies at Madhapur and they live in nearby 15 residential neighborhoods. We want to encourage them to Cycle to work. We have already constructed 30kms length of Cycling Track and couldn’t expand further due to Elections Code of conduct and bifurcation process. We will speed up the Cycling Infrastructure creation process. This infrastructure will be in place within next one year. Currently 800 IT Employees are using Cycle to Work and we want to encourage more and would like to take that number of 2000 for which we need more cycles to be placed at Bicycle Stations. And we want IT companies to come forward to donate the same, he said.

What we started small in 2009 with 189 Bicycle Riders, these bicycle rides have become really big. Now for this Freedom Ride 2014, we will have a record number of 10,000 riders participating in it. All the funds generated will be used for education of lesser privileged children informed Deenanath Harapanahalli, CEO & Founder of TAF

Speaking further he mentioned that “Instead of being passive critics of the traffic problems and the unhealthy lifestyle, I am glad industry leaders are becoming role models and setting an example for the future.”It will be a first of its kind, cycling centric business community event in the country for senior executives and industry leaders. The Atlanta Foundation, popularly known as TAF, champions cycling as a corporate, social, and environmental enabler, he said.

Atlanta Foundation also launched the cover page of RIDE for Life, a new, first of its kind premier bicycle magazine in the country. The magazine will be formally launched during the Freedom Ride on 15th August.

On the occasion all the CEOs were administered an oath and thery were asked to abide by the following oath. “I will be the change I seek. I will respect my fellow cyclists on the road. I will cycle a minimum of a ten times in the next one year. I will encourage my peers, staff, friends and family to get on a cycle as a way of life. I will encourage my peers, staff, friends and family to abide by all traffic rules”

Speaking on the occasion CV Anand, Police Commissioner of Cyberabad said all IT companies must pay attention of the safety of their women employees and suggested that during their orientation seminar, they must also brief about their safety aspect.

The event is supported by TSIIC (Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation), Telangana State and IT Dept; GHMC, Hyderabad Metro Rail, and Cyberabad Security Council, K. Raheja Corp, Vodafone Business Services and other organisation. The 45 minute, 10kmsride which went around Madhapur and adjoining places was culminated at Westin for an Interaction with Mr. Taraka Rama Rao and his address on the Future of Hyderabad and IT industry. The dignitaries who graced the talk included Lakshmi Narayanan-CEO of Cognizant Technologies, N.V.S. Reddy-Managing Director of Hyderabad Metro Rail, Jayesh Ranjan-Vice Chairman & Managing Director-TSIIC, CV Anand-Commissioner of Police, Cyberabad, Amarnath Atmakuri, CEO at Institute for Electronic Governance/ Jawahar Knowledge Centers, Mandeep Singh Bhatia- Business Head of Vodafone, Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Ravindernath-Head, RahejaMindspace, Mr. AshutoshMohanty, DCP-Traffic, Mr. Harpreet Singh, Secretary, ITE&C Department, and Mr. Amarnath Atmakuri, CEO at Institute for Electronic Governance/ Jawahar Knowledge Centers.

The CEO Ride was organized to spread the message of cycling and encourage citizens to take to cycle as a leisure activity, commuting option, and a health & wellness exercise. With Hyderabad growing to be the cycling destination for India, the industry leaders are taking an important step to lead the change they want to see.