First India-Nepal Friendship Motor Rally Flagged Off in Bhubaneswar
28 Feb, Bhubaneswar
The first India-Nepal friendship motor rally was flagged off from Bhubaneswar, Odisha, on Saturday.
The rally to cover 3060 kilometres across India and Nepal over a period of 10 days, was flagged off by Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik. As many as 30 teams are participating in the event set to conclude in New Delhi on March 8.
Rally Director Praveen Bhanjdeo said the rally sought to forge a religious connect with the neighbouring country of Nepal.
“This rally is being flagged off from Odisha for the first time. Never before a convoy rally like this, commemorating Indo-Nepal relations, has been organised here. This rally is a friendship rally and it will establish a religious connection from Puri to Pashupati,” said Bhanjdeo.
Both Puri in India and Pashupati in Nepal hold immense religious importance. Puri is regarded as the holy land of lord Jagannath while Pashupati houses the Pashupathinath Temple, a very popular pilgrimage site.
The rally will trace the journey of Lord Buddha, passing through cities of Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Nalanda,Pataliputra in India and Lumbini, the birth place of Sakyamuni-Sidhartha, the Goutam Buddha in Nepal.
The rally which started from Puri, the abode of Lord Jagannath Friday first touched Dhauli Shanti Stupa in Bhubaneswar. Later the rally would pass through Baipada ,Rairangapur,Jamshedpur,Ranchi,Bodhgaya, ,Bakhtiyarpur,Patna,Muzzafarpur,Forbesganj,Jogbani, Biratnagar,Dharan, Bardibas,Dhulikhel, Kathamandu,Pokhara, Lumbini, Dhangadi and reach New Delhi.
“This rally has been organised for two reasons- firstly, to strengthen the bond of friendship between India and Nepal and secondly, to promote road safety. Accidents caused due to flouting of rule are very common in India, so through this rally we also want to promote the idea of safe driving,” said a participant, Arun Bhatia.
The organisers hope that this car rally will provide an impetus to spiritual and adventure tourism in both the countries.
In the entire route, the participants would create awareness about road safety and tell people what to do and what not while using the road.
On the concluding day, Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan,Road Safety Ambassador for the Union government Bollywood film star Amir Khan are scheduled to grace the flag in ceremony.