Top Uttarakhand bureaucrats come forward to participate in rally organized to promote tourism

File picture of a rally vehicle in action.

Dehradun, December 20: Some of the top bureaucrats of Uttarakhand are participating in the car rally organized by the Uttarakhand government to showcase to the world that the state is again the adventure tourism destination for skiing, white-water rafting, wildlife photography, and now also motorsport.

Dehradun Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Magistrate Mr B. Purushottam is part of the strong field of 35 teams at the rally. Mr Purushottam is participating in the rally with team-mate Mr Madhukar Naik, IAS. Mr Naik is the Private Secretary to Union Minister of Social Justice Mr Balram Naik. The rally is being organized from December 21-24.

Mr Purushottam said that the rally route covers some of the most beautiful routes in Uttarakhand. These include Shivpuri for white water rafting, the ski resort at Auli, and Garjiya on the periphery of the Jim Corbett Park. “The rally will inspire confidence among tourists nationally and internationally that Uttarkhand is back on rails as a premier tourism destination,” said Mr Purushottam.

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.

Dr UK Panwar, Secretary Tourism Uttarakhand, said it is a matter of pride for the state that some of the top bureaucrats are coming forward to participate in the rally. “Uttarakhand Tourism is organizing the rally to spread the message that the roads in the state are good, and our tourist hotspots are the right holiday choice for families and youth alike,” said Dr Panwar.

Some of the champion teams of TSD (Time-Speed-Distance) rallyists competing in the rally include Satish Gopalkrishnan-Savera D’Souza of Bangalore; Jagmeet Gill (Chandigarh)-Chandan Das (Kolkata); Ajgar Ali (Haldia)-Mohammad Mustafa (Erode) and Vishnu Singh (Jaipur)- Adithya Anthony (Bangalore).

In addition, the youth of Uttarakhand have shown great enthusiasm in participating in the rally. There are nine teams of the youth of the state in the Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally.

The Rally is being organized by Uttarakhand Tourism in collaboration with Himalayan Motorsport. This is the premier Shimla-based motorsport club which organizes the Raid De Himalaya. The Raid ranks among the top ten toughest motorsport rallies of the world.

Mr Vijay Parmar, the President of Himalayan Motorsport, said that the demand among the youth of Uttarakhand and from motorsport lovers from other parts of the country is amazingly high. “We had fixed the total number of entries at the rally to 35 because of the limited daylight hours available. However, the demand is so high that even if we had kept the number of total entries at 70, all places would have been taken,” he said.