Bhubaneswar: To encourage youngsters of the state to join the defense services and make their life worthwhile and make the state drug free, the Biking Community of Bhubaneswar, Odisha in association with ‘We the Road Queens’ and Individual Social Responsibility, organised a bike rally and named the event ‘Rang De Basanti’ (RDB). It is a nationwide ride which is being held at more than 70 cities by Thumpers Café, a riding group in India .
In Odisha ISR with BCI Bhubaneswar has the privilege of hosting this ride which is an fight against drugs while vouching to make lives of youths more worthwhile by joining defense services rather than waste it doing drugs. It is an ode to the defense personnel and martyrs of India.
The RDB is a pan Indian event organised in more than 70 cities including Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Ambala, Allahabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patiala, Pune and Shimla. In the city, the ride started from near Sainik school and ended at Bikers Park in Niali.
More than 100 bikers from the city joined in huge numbers and rode to Niali, 70 kilometres from Bhubaneswar for the inauguration of “Pulwama Shaheed Smruti Park”, a place where 40 Shiuli saplings were planted in memory of the Pulwama martyrs.
Niali also happens to be the native of Manoj Behera, one of the martyrs of the Pulwama attack. The Phulwama Shaheed Smruti Park was an Initiative of ISR (Individual Social Responsibility). The Inaugaration the Pulwama Shaheed Smruti Park was done by Ila Behera (Widow of Shaheed Manoj Behera)
“We are very excited about the ride as it sends across a positive message for the youth. Bikers hold the imagination of the young generation and can have a great impact on them. So we would endorse the message of living a drug- free life and being a part of the armed forces, said Anantha Narayan Kuan from Bhubaneswar Bikers Club.
(Retd) Air Commander T K Rath from Indian Air Force who flagged off the rally said, “It is good to see such enthusiastic bunch of youngsters standing up for the martyrs. My best wishes to them!”
Sangeeta Sahoo the city based biker said, “Odisha has huge population of youngsters and they can be a great asset to the country if they joined the armed forces. The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten so we must respect the army for their sacrifice. Also the ride aims to help the youngsters in staying away from drug abuse.”
The ride was organised a day after Saheed diwas in memory of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev who were hanged March 23, 1931.
Bikers spread message about drug-free life
