Road safety rally participants get rousing welcome
TNN | Updated: Feb 16, 2019, 08:55 IST
The car rally being flagged off in Patna on FridayPATNA: Participants of Suraksha Yatra, a motor car rally of 7,000km from New Delhi to Myanmar, were given a warm welcome here on their arrival on Friday. State transport minister Santosh Kumar Nirala later flagged off the cars for their onward journey.
The rally is an initiative of Union ministry of road, transport and highways to commemorate 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It was officially launched by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and road, transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi on February 4 as part of the 30th Road Safety Week.
The 11 cars in the rally are driven by people from cross sections of society, including armed forces and freedom fighters. The rally will cover places associated with Mahatma Gandhi in three countries – India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Addressing the gathering, Nirala said messages and principles of Mahatma Gandhi would be spread among the masses to highlight awareness about road safety.
Before flagging off the car rally, a two-minute silence was also observed at the venue – Gandhi Maidan – to pay homage to the CRPF jawans who sacrificed their lives in Pulwama terror attack. The minister also paid floral tribute to the statue of Gandhi at Gandhi Maidan.
Transport secretary Sanjay Kumar Agarwal said several activities have been conducted across the state to observe the road safety week. “The rally will make people aware about road safety. It will conclude at Yangon in Myanmar on February 24, covering a distance of over 7,000km,” he said.
Agarwal said stickers and boards of no-honking have been put up across the city with the help of students and non-government organisations as part of the road safety week. “Awareness is very important to stop road accidents,” he said.
Agarwal added altogether 6,715 people died in the state in road accidents in 2017-18 alone. “Of them, 52% were in the age group of 15 to 35 years. At least 32% of accidents involved two-wheelers,” he said.
The rally is an initiative of Union ministry of road, transport and highways to commemorate 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It was officially launched by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and road, transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi on February 4 as part of the 30th Road Safety Week.
The 11 cars in the rally are driven by people from cross sections of society, including armed forces and freedom fighters. The rally will cover places associated with Mahatma Gandhi in three countries – India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Addressing the gathering, Nirala said messages and principles of Mahatma Gandhi would be spread among the masses to highlight awareness about road safety.
Before flagging off the car rally, a two-minute silence was also observed at the venue – Gandhi Maidan – to pay homage to the CRPF jawans who sacrificed their lives in Pulwama terror attack. The minister also paid floral tribute to the statue of Gandhi at Gandhi Maidan.
Transport secretary Sanjay Kumar Agarwal said several activities have been conducted across the state to observe the road safety week. “The rally will make people aware about road safety. It will conclude at Yangon in Myanmar on February 24, covering a distance of over 7,000km,” he said.
Agarwal said stickers and boards of no-honking have been put up across the city with the help of students and non-government organisations as part of the road safety week. “Awareness is very important to stop road accidents,” he said.
Agarwal added altogether 6,715 people died in the state in road accidents in 2017-18 alone. “Of them, 52% were in the age group of 15 to 35 years. At least 32% of accidents involved two-wheelers,” he said.
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