Bridgestone India has inaugurated its fourth Bridgestone Sarthi Support Centre (BSSC) in Indore to provide healthcare and wellbeing services to truck drivers. Located on the Agra–Bombay Road, the centre has been established in partnership with Smile Foundation under the company’s Project Sarthi initiative. The centre will provide primary healthcare, physiotherapy, counselling, mental wellbeing support, preventive health awareness and tyre and road safety education. The facility is intended to give truck drivers access to these services at a single location, addressing their healthcare and safety needs while they are on the road.
The Indore facility expands Bridgestone India’s network of Sarthi Support Centres, which already includes centres in Pune and Kalamboli in Maharashtra, and Sangagiri in Tamil Nadu. The company plans to establish eight centres across major freight and logistics corridors in India by 2028.
Through Project Sarthi, Bridgestone India has been conducting healthcare programmes, vision screening, road safety awareness activities and skill development initiatives for truck drivers and their communities. According to the company, these programmes have reached more than 72,500 beneficiaries across the country, nearly 95% of whom belong to the trucking community.
Uday Wagde, Executive Director – Manufacturing Operations, Bridgestone India, said the company had expanded its support programmes in response to feedback from truck drivers. “When we started working with trucking community, our focus was on training, healthcare and vision screening camps to truck drivers across the country. Over the years, we have been privileged to positively impact more than 72,500 truck drivers. As we listened to drivers during these interactions, one message became very clear – support should not be available only when a camp is organised. It should be available whenever a driver needs it. Indore was a very natural choice for this expansion,” Mr Wagde said.
The new centre is part of Bridgestone India’s efforts to improve access to healthcare and safety services for people working in the transport and logistics sector. Truck drivers play a key role in the movement of goods across the country but often face challenges in accessing regular healthcare because of demanding schedules and long-distance travel.
By expanding the Sarthi Support Centre network, the company aims to make essential services more accessible along major transport routes. The initiative also supports Bridgestone’s broader focus on road safety, sustainable mobility and community wellbeing.
Bridgestone India is part of the Bridgestone Group, a global tyre and mobility solutions company. Through its business operations and community initiatives, the company works across areas including mobility, road safety and sustainable development. Project Sarthi is its corporate social responsibility initiative focused on supporting truck drivers through healthcare access, vision screening, safety awareness and skill development programmes.
