Manisha Swain
Pune, 26th January 2022: In December 2021, Chairman of Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra offered to give a Mahindra vehicle to Dattatraya Lohar from Maharashtra after being impressed by Dattatraya’s creation.
A video of a vehicle created by Dattatraya Lohar of Devrashtre village in Kadegaon taluka of Sangli district went viral on social media. The vehicle was built from scratch and had auto-rickshaw tyres and a two-wheeler engine.
Anand Mahindra shared the video on Twitter, and said, “This clearly doesn’t meet with any of the regulations but I will never cease to admire the ingenuity and ‘more with less’ capabilities of our people. And their passion for mobility—not to mention the familiar front grille”
In another tweet, he said, ” Local authorities will sooner or later stop him from plying the vehicle since it flouts regulations. I’ll personally offer him a Bolero in exchange. His creation can be displayed at MahindraResearchValley to inspire us, since ‘resourcefulness’ means doing more with less resources”
On Tuesday, Mahindra took to Twitter to convey that he had kept his word.
Sharing the photos of Lohar and his family with the brand new vehicle, Mahindra tweeted, “Delighted that he accepted the offer to exchange his vehicle for a new Bolero. Yesterday his family received the Bolero & we proudly took charge of his creation. It will be part of our collection of cars of all types at our Research Valley & should inspire us to be resourceful.”
According to the video shared in December, Lohar created a vehicle with an investment of Rs 60,000 which was designed like a smaller version of Jeep but it had restricted functionality. The vehicle started with a kick and it was built from old and abandoned car parts after his daughter insisted on buying a four-wheeler but he could not afford it.
