Dr Vikram Mehta, India’s renowned production Engineer and Innovator in the Fire Evacuation field and construction equipment industry, who is fondly known as ‘Maharashtra’s Fire Man’ in the industry, has been conferred upon the prestigious ‘Saavali’ Puraskar (Award) at the hands of Hon. Shri. Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Governor, Maharshtra at a special event – ‘Jaagar’ – organised by Pallavi Foundation and Swamiraj Prakashan in Mumbai today. The Award commemorated iconic personalities who contributed to Maharashtra’s development. Another special Award – Navdurga Sanmaan – was conferred upon the women achievers on the sidelines of the International Women’s Day.

Dr Vikram Mehta is a Managing Director of India’s leading Construction Equipment Company named SPARTAN Engineering Industries Private Limited. The Saavali Purskar has recognized Dr Mehta’s innovative and pioneering work in designing and manufacturing Fire Evacuation Lifts, which are currently being used in many high-rise buildings in Maharashtra and across India. The Fire Evacuation Lift is proving to be the boon in fire accidents that have saved hundreds of precious lives and facilitated the fire fighters in combating and averting fire situations. The Award marked Dr Mehta’s dedication and devotion towards helping the people and the fire fighters of Fire Brigades across the cities and towns with his technology-driven invention of Fire Evacuation Lifts.

Hon. Shri. Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Governor of Maharashtra commemorated Dr Vikram Mehta’s relentless efforts and appreciated his passionate drive to save people and properties by pre-empting fire risks through his Fire Evacuation Lifts.

Speaking on the occasion Dr Vikram Mehta said, “It is indeed a great honour for me to receive this Award at the hands of Honourable Governor of Maharashtra. This has inspired me to continue my efforts in making our state of Mahrashtra and the whole nation fire risk-free by undertaking continuous innovations around fire evacuation. Fire evacuation and safety is a very crucial area of disaster management for any State. While our brave Fire Officers and fighters in Fire Brigades, the State Government and the Municipal Corporations have been doing an incredible work of mitigating fire accidents and creating fire-free societies, I am happy that I could contribute a little by aiding them with our fire evacuation lifts, which could work as saviours in acute fire incidents.”

He further said, “I dedicate this Award to all Chief Fire Officers, Firefighters for their selfless contribution in the fire evacuation and safety fields. This Award has recognized Fire Evacuation as a major area of disaster management to build safe and secure societies. I thank the Organisers – Pallavi Foundation and Swamiraj Prakashan – for considering me and the field I work in, for this Award. This will help create more awareness among the people about fire evacuation needs and infrastructure necessary to build a fire risk-free environment.” 

Dr. Vikram Mehta is an alumnus of Wharton University. Under his leadership, Spartan Engineering Industries has innovated a fire-proof Advanced Emergency Firemen Evacuation Lift, which can be customized as per the design of an existing or a new building and withstand any emergency evacuation of people trapped amid fire.