Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Shri Vijay Bahuguna today flagged off the Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally, which is seeing the participation of bureaucrats from the state and the centre, the local youth and champion TSD rallyists from various parts of the country.
A total of 35 teams are taking part in the rally being held from December 21 to 24. Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally is being organized to inspire confidence among tourists that the roads in the state are good and smooth, and Uttarkhand is back on rails as a premier tourism destination.
Sports Minister Dinesh Aggarwal and Tourism Minister Smt Amrita Rawat were with the Chief Minister when he flagged off the rally.
The Chief Minister said it was a matter of pride for Uttarakhand that some senior IAS and IPS officials of the state and the centre are taking part in the rally to strengthen the message of normalcy in the state.
Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally will cover about 850 kilometers on the mountains and plains in the state. The rally route will touch some of the favourite tourism attractions in Uttarakhand. These include Shivpuri for white water rafting, the ski resort at Auli, and Garjiya on the periphery of the Jim Corbett Park.
Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Smt Amrita Rawat said that by going past these tourism hotspots of Uttarakhand, the rally will spread the message nationally and internationally that the state is once again the ‘eco-adventure tourism destination’ for skiing, white-water rafting, wildlife photography, and now also motorsport.
Sports Minister Shri Dinesh Aggarwal said that 13 teams of the youth and motorsport lovers of Uttarakhand are taking part in the rally.
Dehradun Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Magistrate B. Purushottam is participating in the rally with team-mate Madhukar Naik, IAS. Naik is the Private Secretary to Union Minister of Social Justice Balram Naik.
Dehrandun Deputy Commissioner Customs and Central Excise Mr Raghvendra Pal Singh is participating in the rally with Mr Manish Aggarwal, IPS and Mr Darpan Amrawanshi, an IRS officer. Mr B. Sreenivas Kumar, Joint Commissioner Income Tax, Delhi, is participating in the rally too. Capt Devendra Kumar Sachan, Chief Pilot of the Uttarakhand government, is participating in the rally with team-mate Mr Lokesh Lohia, a major industrialist of the state.
The Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally is being organized by Himalayan Motorsport, the premier Shimla-based motorsport club which organizes the world-famous rally – the Raid De Himalaya. Rally Director Vijay Parmar said it was a full house at the rally, with the 35 teams eagerly waiting to take off.
The Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally is supported by Maruti Suzuki and JK Tyres.
On December 22, the Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally will begin early morning from Dehradun. It will go via Rishikesh, Shivpuri, Dev Prayag, Rudra Prayag, Karan Prayag, Chamoli and Joshimath to end at the ski resort at Auli. The rallyists will cover about 300 kilometers on the first day of the event.
The route from Dehradun to Shivpuri and beyond features some of the most popular stretches in the world for white water rafting. On Day 2, the Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally will come down from Auli to Karan Prayag. It will then proceed towards Chaukhutiya and Kumerian to reach Garjiya on the east of Jim Corbett Park. On Day 2, the rally will cover about 280 kilometers of country roads.
On Day 3, the rally will go across some of the most picturesque roads in the state via Nainidhada and Kotdwar to culminate at Paryatan Bhawan, Dehradun.
The Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally is authorized by the Federation of Motorsport Clubs of India (FMSCI).
The Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally will follow the TSD (Time-Speed-Distance) format. This is the sober form of motorsport that allows competitors to go slow in populous areas, and stick to specified speed limits at all times.
Through the rally, the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board hopes to raise further resources to assist those affected by the floods. The rally is open to any brand or model of automobile. SUVs and cars will fight for top honours in their own categories respectively.
