Ist Moghal Motor Rally culminates
after completing the thrilling route amidst
breathe taking view in the State of Jammu & Kashmir.
Srinagar (Kashmir), June, 27: Chief Minister, Mr. Omar Abdullah gave away prizes to the winners of first Moghal Rally at SKICC.
The Chief Minister said that this sort of event will open ways for many more events of Motor Rally, Mountain Biking and other such sports.
He said that his government is endeavouring to give considerable fillip to the tourism in Jammu & Kashmir. “New initiatives have been taken to encourage Adventure Tourism in Jammu & Kashmir” he said adding that measures are afoot to showcase new areas for International Tourism. The Motor Rally on Moghal road will prove highly beneficial for the areas and villages on the route to come up on Tourism Map.
The Chief Minister said that Motor Race from Srinagar to Gurez and similar such areas will also be encouraged in near future. He appreciated the participants for taking part in this event and successfully travelling difficult and longe distance, crossing different mountain ranges and helping the Jammu & Kashmir Government to showcase State’s potential in the sport.
The Minister for Tourism, Jammu & Kashmir speaking on the occasion, said that the event will kick-start, the tourism activities in these areas which have not so far been opened for tourism activities. He said tourism department envisages similar events in Kishtwar, Badharwah, Northern and Southern Kashmir and other feasible areas in the State of Jammu & Kashmir.
First prize of Rs 2 lakh and trophy was won by Umesh Raheja and Yogesh Raheja while in the extreme 4x4 event, Ist prize of Rs 2 lakh went to Sanny Sidhu and Jagbir Singh. The Younis Mughal Trophy was awarded to Gurpreet Singh and Vinay Sahi while the best Ist Timer overall award was given to Toufeeq Mughal and Ankur Joon.
As many as 40 Motor Cars participated in the Rally, of these 31 reached to the destination. Three participants from State and three women participants also took part in the Rally.
Earlier in the day, Minister for Tourism and Culture, flagged-in 1st Mughal Rally 2010 after its return to Srinagar today.
Addressing the participants of first Mughal Road Rally and other guests, the Tourism Minister said that a dream of Jammu & Kashmir State in general and Tourism department in particular has come true. The road was rough and cumbersome but this added to the thrill and adventure of the rally.
The rally participants are visibly happy to be the part of this maiden event and to be back after this gruelling two day race and look forward to participate in the second edition of the Rally next year.
The first Mughal rally is the joint endeavour of the Tourism department and the Jammu Kashmir Bank to harness the adventure potential of the State of Jammu & Kashmir and with the construction of the new roads has thrown open new areas hitherto less know to the outside world.
The idea of the rally was conceived last year on the prize distribution ceremony of Raid De Himalayas when the Chief Minister wished to conduct a rally that would start towards Jammu and end at Srinagar retracing the steps of the Mughal via the Mughal road. The efforts of Jammu & Kashmir state government and Himalayan Motor Sports were fructified today when the rally was officially flagged-in.
In the Xtreme 4/4 category, Sunny Sidhu of the Team W+K Racing took the overall first, followed by Randeep Miglani in second spot while Harpreet Bawa took third place after a closely fought battle.
In the Enduro 4/4, the win went to Umesh Raheja from Delhi followed by K Prasad from Chennai. Third spot went to Dharampal Jangra from team Maruti.
|
