Imphal, March 17 2010: As part of the 175th birth anniversary of the Assam Rifles to be held on March 24, a motocycle Peace rally that had been flagged off from India Gate in New Delhi on March 2 had reached Imphal, and flagged off again by the Governor of Manipur, Gurbachan Jagat at Kangla yesterday for the remaining journey.

Attending the flag-off ceremony, Governor Gurbachan Jagat said that the Assam Rifles, which is hailed as "Sentinels of the North East" and "Friend of the Hill People" is closely related to the development of the North East.

He said, " It is a matter of satisfaction that the team, comprising one officer, one Junior Commissioned Officer and 28 men on motorcylcles, sponsored by Hero Honda aims at spreading the message of peace among the people besides highighting the role of the Assam Rifles in the NE.

The Governor hoped that the rally would act as a morale booster for the troops and help spread the message of peace among the people of the trouble-torn states of the North East and motivate them to shun violence and adopt the path of peace.

He also expressed the hope that the rallyists will be befitting ambassadors of peace and harmony for the Assam Rifles as they pass throgh all the states of the North East covering a distance of about 2500 kms.

Meanwhile, a press release from the PRO, IG AR (South) stated that the Motorcycle Peace Rally will travel through all seven sister states.

The main aim of the rally is to garner goodwill and spread message of peace and harmony in all the insurgency affected states of North East.

Maj Gen C A Krishnan, IG AR (South), DGP Manipur, Y Joykumar, IPS and other eminent guests were present at the ceremony.

After traversing a distance of 2500 km in a span of 30 days, the rally will be flagged in at Shillong by Lt Gen KS Yadav, Director General of Assam Rifles on March 25 to mark its culmination.

Beside achieving the basic aim of displaying grit and determination of the Assam Rifles soldiers, this motorcycle rally will also conduct various laudable activities enroute for the local population which will include symposium on AIDS Awareness, Malaria Awareness, distribution of medical kits, quiz in local school and motivational talk on Assam Rifles and recruitment procedures.

Various sports activities like volleyball and football matches will also be played with local teams.

Comment