Bhubaneswar: The FitIndia Cyclothon Campaign in the Temple City on Sunday witnessed a huge turnout with more than 300 cyclists participating in the event braving the winter chill.
Organised by Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, the event was flagged off from Ekamra Plaza near Sishu Bhawan Square.
The cyclists covered a distance of 12.1 km to end the trip at Sikharchandi Hills.
BMC Commissioner-cum-CEO of Smart City Prem Chandra Chaudhary and Arjuna Awardee cyclist Minati Mohapatra were present.
Minati appealed people to stay fit by cycling and said, “if we continue the good practice we can boost our immunity and fight diseases like coronavirus.”
The Smart City CEO and BMC Commissioner said “resident welfare associations have started adopting cycling as a community activity and BMC has been removing encroachments from cycle tracks along the Priority Road Network. Friday CycleGiri has become a popular event every week.”
Among others, BMC Additional Commissioner Surath Chandra Mallick, GM (Administration) Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited Kamaljit Das, GM (Engineering) Ashwini Kumar Bishwal, Zonal Deputy Commissioner (South East) Anshuman Rath, Assistant Commissioner (PR & Communication) Lilan Prasad Sahoo were present.
The event under the FitIndia initiative of the Ministry of Youth Services and Sports under the guidance of Smart City Mission of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is part of the thematic campaign “Fitness ki dose, adha ghanta roz’’ (the dose of fitness should be for half an hour daily) to make the nation fit, healthy and youthful.
The Temple City of Bhubaneswar has been organizing Cyclothons regularly and CycleGiri on every Friday to keep the trend going among the youth and fitness enthusiasts.
