How One Moment on the Road Turned Rajesh Wagh into a Life-Saving Force

Today's tale is of Rajesh Wagh, who used to assist his father at a puncture shop, now constructing Nagpur's initial disaster response system for road accidents. Theirs is a reminder that you don't require a cape to be a hero — just a bit of courage.

A Promise Born of Loss and Purpose

Growing up in Lakshmi Nagar, Nagpur, as a teenager, he would constantly witness passersby run to assist road accident victims, but few had first aid training to help. This moved him profoundly. In 2002, he started the Jeevan Suraksha Project, a people-centric programme to establish an accessible Good Samaritan force. For more than two decades, Rajesh Wagh has worked behind the scenes to revolutionise road safety in Nagpur.

"In the early 2000s, I understood that the single most important difference between life and death in a road accident wasn't an ambulance, but time."

Rajesh has since trained more than 15,000 individuals — from local vendors and auto-rickshaw drivers to college students — in basic first aid and CPR. Through over 600 programs of awareness, these trainees have assisted in saving more than 600 lives, many times before any official medical help could get there.

India's First Road Accident Disaster Response Centre

But that was not the end of his quest. In 2023, Rajesh made a giant leap by commissioning India's first-ever Road Accident Disaster Management Centre near Chichbhavan Chowk, a key black spot on Nagpur's Wardha Road. "This crossroads had witnessed too many fatalities. We required an on-ground mechanism that reacted quicker than emergency services could," he says.

The centre functions with trained community volunteers posted on-site, armed with emergency medical kits and assisted by a real-time WhatsApp alert system that rapidly mobilises assistance. It has now become an essential node within Nagpur's emergency response network, rescuing lives weekly.

"Maza Rasta, Maza Mitra" — My Road, My Friend

But Rajesh's call is bigger than emergency service. On his birthday in May 2025, rather than party, he kicked off the "Maza Rasta, Maza Mitra" (My Road, My Friend) initiative, spearheading a pothole filling drive at Shivanagar Phata. His principle is clear and compelling: preventing crashes is as crucial as treating them.

His work gained further recognition during a city-wide road safety drive in Nagpur, organized to mark Union Minister Nitin Gadkari's birthday, under the theme: "My Road, Accident-Free Road." The campaign called on everyday citizens to take ownership of their streets and contribute actively to making them safer.

A City-Wide Movement

Through his organisation, he has sparked a city-wide movement — Sankalp Durghatan Mukt Nagpur — to "earn" the art of living an accident-free life. He aims to train one lakh citizens in the practice of positive driving, empowering them with the mindset, awareness, and discipline needed to prevent road crashes before they happen.

From July 2025 to February 2026, his vision is nothing short of transformational: by Safety Week 2026, he aspires to raise a generation that follows 100% of traffic rules — not out of fear of fines, but out of a shared sense of responsibility.