A private firm, Cars24, has admitted that no challan was issued by the authorities for floating a boat in the inundated streets of Gurugram as part of a publicity stunt. The company has issued an apology to the concerned authorities for the act.
The incident occurred during the recent heavy rainfall in Gurugram, which caused severe waterlogging in the city. Cars24, an online car trading firm, lowered a blue boat onto the waterlogged thoroughfares as a branding exercise. However, the company initially claimed that the Gurugram Traffic Police had confiscated the boat and imposed a Rs 50,000 fine on the firm for violating traffic regulations.
The claim was later debunked by the Gurugram Traffic Police, with ACP (Traffic) Satyapal Yadav stating that no complaint was received and no challan was issued in connection with the act. The company has now issued a statement clarifying that the Rs 50,000 figure mentioned earlier referred to the cost involved in executing the marketing activation, not a traffic challan.
Cars24 has apologized for the misunderstanding, stating that the post was created as a light-hearted marketing act in response to the flooding situation in Gurugram. The company acknowledged that taking a boat out on a public road is not safe and was never intended to encourage or promote such behavior.
The controversy began after Prachi Sharma, the company’s head of brand and communications, shared a post about the alleged police action on LinkedIn. The company has taken full responsibility for the lapse and deeply regrets the unwarranted criticism and inconvenience caused to the authorities.
In their apology statement, Cars24 said, ‘We sincerely and unreservedly apologize to the Gurugram administration, police, and all concerned authorities. We acknowledge that the manner in which this campaign was executed was irresponsible and resulted in confusion by wrongly attributing to the police an enforcement action that never took place.’
