The 14th Blind Challenge Car Rally 2020 was organised here on Sunday. This time the theme of the rally was ‘Clean Bhopal Green Bhopal’. Pallavi Jain Govil, Principal Secretary Department of Health was present as the Chief Guest and flagged off the first vehicle and started the rally from DB city Mall, Bhopal.
The car rally was organised by Arushi and Dilip Buildcon Limited supported by Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, MP Tourism, Directorate of Sports and Youth Welfare, LIC, Little Tomatoes and Aquarius.
Dilip Suryavanshi, CMD Dilip Buildcon, SK Chaudhary, Director IGRMS, Surendra Mittal were also present. The first car was driven by Aruneshwar Singh Deo with Navigator Shyamu. This time there were two participants from Delhi especially for participating in this rally; Ajay Jain and Pratishtha Singh.
The rally moved through clear roads of Arera Hills, M.P. Nagar, Chetak Bridge, Kasturba Hospital, Shakti Nagar, AIIMS, Sawarkar Bridge, Arera Colony, 7 no., 5 No., J P Hospital, Harshwardhan Nagar, Mata Mandir, MANIIT, Aradhana Nagar, Hajela Hospital, PNT square and ended at IGRMS.
En route were check points to ensure, no-one drives fast, and all traffic rules are strictly followed. The rally where the vehicle was driven by a sighted person and the navigator was a blind person, the route map in Braille was given to them on the spot.
The navigators for the rally were from all over Madhya Pradesh.
The rally covered around 30 kms distance within the Bhopal Municipal limits. The route of the rally was managed by Event Management Group — Genius. Throughout the route all road safety norms and speed limits were strictly followed as told by the event manager Neeraj Gulati from Genius- a Creative group.
Competitors finishing with minimum penalty points were declared the winners, as there was one penalty point for each minute delay and 5 penalty points on entering one minute early at the check points. The prize distribution programme was organized at Vithi Sankul auditorium of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya. SK Chaudhary, Director Manav Sangrahalaya, was present for giving the prizes to the winners.
There were cash prizes and trophies for first three winners and gifts to all navigators.
Total 45 vehicles participated in the rally. The navigators were from 30 districts of Madhya Pradesh.
There were special prizes too. The Rakesh Sharma memorial trophy for most enthusiastic participant was given to Mitesh Gite. Shweta Singh was given for most decorative vehicle with the theme clean Bhopal and save trees. The first three Prize winners were- First prize went to Chitra Manwani (driver) Om Prakash Sahu (Navigator) with Rs 12,000 cash, second prize went to Shailendra Bagre (Driver) and Ramkaran Varma (Navigator) with Rs 8,000 cash and third prize went to Mahendra Manwani (Driver) and Vikas Rajput (Navigator) with Rs 6,000.
All drivers were given beautiful planters as mementos by Pots and Plants, and navigators were given Bags and certificates by IGRMS. Safety first aid kits were also distributed by Ambulance Service 108. The Programme was hosted by RJ Anuj.