The Hindu Business Line : Southern leg of Chalo Asean rally flagged off

THE Chalo Asean Car Rally, organised by the Department of External Affairs and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in conjunction with the First India — Asean Car Rally, rolled to a start from here on Friday.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr Balram Kumar Upadhyaya, flagged off the southern leg of the rally at a function presided over by Mr K.K.M. Kutty, former Chairman, CII (southern region).

Earlier, the participants had left Kanyakumari in the early hours of the day after being waved off by Mr Rajesh Lakhoni, District Collector. Members of the team include: Mr Mahesh Raman (Hyderabad), Mr Roopesh Thakkar (Mumbai), Mr Chandru (Gujarat), Mr Jatin Chawhan (Gujarat), Mr Satheesh (Chennai), Mr R. Ramachandran (Bangalore), Mr Mazdayar Vatch (Goa), Mr Michael Watsa and Ms Vatsala Watsa (Bangalore).

Precursor rally: The Chalo Asean Rally is a precursor to the combined First India Asean Car Rally that leaves Guwahati on November 22. Apart from Kanyakumari, Chalo Asean rallies have been flagged off simultaneously from other three extreme points of the country — Shimla, Gandhinagar and Panjim.

The rally that left Thiruvananthapuram proceeded to Madurai (via Shenkottah) and will head to Salem, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Nagpur. At Nagpur, the team will be joined by the rally originating from the West (Panjim, via Mumbai) before the combined rally moves on to Guwahati.

The northern and eastern streams will converge at Gwalior before heading for Guwahati. The one originating from Shimla will hit Gwalior straight while that from Gandhinagar (in the East) will have traversed Udaypur and Kota to join the northern stream.

The rallies will travel through 20 States covering 14,000 km before congregating in Guwahati on November 20. The Government of Assam is planning to host a reception in honour of the participants.

India proposes: A spokesman of the sponsors of the rally said here that the idea of an India Asean Car Rally was proposed by the then Prime Minister of India at the 2nd India Asean summit meeting held in Bali, Indonesia, on October 8, 2003. The aim was to promote tourism and development in the region along with long-term economic cooperation between India and the Asean countries.

Following the summit, the Ministry of External Affairs, and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) worked closely in cooperation with member states of Asean, the Asean Secretariat and the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) to give shape to the idea and translate it into reality.

The 1st India Asean Car Rally will be flagged off on November 22 from Guwahati. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, is expected to take part in the daylong event, which would mark a new chapter in India's expanding ties with the Asean countries.

Starting the rally from Guwahati emphasises the centrality of India's eastern region and in particular the North-Eastern States in consonance with the Centre's `Look East' policy. In its maiden, the rally will be received mid-way in Vientiane, Laos, on November 30, when Dr Manmohan Singh will be joined by all the Heads of State/Government of the Asean countries in giving the rally a ceremonial send-off for its second leg.

Dr Singh is scheduled to be in Vientiane that day to participate in the 3rd Asean India Summit.