The Indian Army’s  20-day long pan North East Car Rally 'Purvottar Bharat Parikrama' to reach out to the youths, freedom fighters, gallantry award winners besides common people in the mountainous region has reached Agartala on Saturday.

To celebrate 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav', the rally, covering approximately 5,000 km in eight northeastern states, flagged off by Army's Eastern Command chief Lt Gen Rana Pratap Kalita in Fort Williams, Kolkata .

The rally, comprising 38 members, 10 vehicles, would cover around 5,000 km over 20 days across eight states - Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

Assam Rifles organises a welcome ceremony for Eastern Command “Purvottar Bharat Parikrama” Car Rally at Agartala. The headquarters Assam Rifles Alpha Range under the aegis of Inspector General Assam Rifles (East) organised a welcome ceremony for “Purvottar Bharat Parikrama” car rally at Agartala on Saturday.

The aim of the car rally is to augment bonhomie between the defence forces and the local populace and also to highlight the rich cultural heritage of North East India to the rest of the country. The car rally aim to bring a positive attitude of the youths of the north east by channelising their thought process towards nationalism and spirit of  sacrifice for the Country.

As a part of the welcome ceremony several events were organised which included paying homage to Freedom Fighters and Fallen Heroes, felicitation of Veer Naaris and War veterans, motivational lecture by PVC, Hony Captain Yogendra Singh Yadav (Kargil War Hero) and interaction with Ex-Servicemen. The team also motivated the local students and NCC cadets by distributing school bags and stationery items.

 "The initiative aims to reach out to the youths, freedom fighters, gallantry award winners and common men to share their experiences and to develop a meaningful connection for inclusive development of India.

The welcome ceremony was held at Albert Ekka War memorial park in Lichubagan area of Agartala and the  rally led by Brigadier K M Sindhe , Colonel S K Mishra and India’s youngest Param Vir Chakra winner Captain Yogendra Singh Yadav  paid floral tributes at the war memorial . During the tribute ceremony, the Director of Tourism department of the state government Tapan Kumar Das was also present in the  ceremony.

The Army’s Eastern Command said that 18 days before , the 'Purvottar Bharat Parikrama' car rally started from West Bengal and after covering six states, the car rally reached Agartala on Friday  afternoon. The car rally is being conducted in collaboration with North East council under the Ministry of Department of North Eastern Region (DoNER).