Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The cars navigated by Sonika Joshi and Shubham Sen (both from Indore) won the17th Blind Challenge Car Rally 2023, Hamsafar, in the Expert and Novice class respectively.
Sonali and Shubham are visually-challenged whereas their drivers Swayamwara Choudhary and Swaroop Shastri are sighted.
The second prize was won by the navigator –driver team of Praveen Patidar from Indore and Chitra Manwani in the Expert class and Monika Sahu from Indore and Shivam Shrivastava in the Novice class. The winners received cash prize of Rs 5,000 and runner up got Rs 3,000 in both classes.
Arushi, an organisation for differently-abled children, organised the rally in association with Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), Chief Electoral Office and LIC.
The route of the rally was managed by Event Management Group - Genius. In all, 40 vehicles participated in the rally. The navigators were from different districts of the state. There were cash prizes and trophies for the first three winners and gifts for all the navigators.
Chief Guest and Governor Mangubhai Patel flagged off the rally. Chief Electoral Officer Anupam Rajan was the special guest. The first car was driven by Aruneshwar Singh Deo with Navigator Nisha Ojha.
The rally moved through Arera Hills, Bhopal Haat, Vyapam office, Krishna Pranami Mandir, Char Imli Road, Petrol Pump, Subhash School, Indira Market, Chouraha, Arjun swimming pool, 1100 Mandir, Campion School, IIHM, Banskhedi, Habibganj Thana Crossing, Kolar Tiraha, Choona Bhatti Chauraha, Ayurvedic Hospital, Nehru Nagar, MANIT, Mata Mandir, Atal Path, Jawahar Chowk and ended at IGRMS. Enroute were checkpoints to ensure, no one drove fast and violated traffic rules. The prize distribution programme was organised at Vithi Sankul auditorium of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya.
Gulzar named it
This year, the rally was given name Hamsafar by lyricist Gulzar, sending a message that we have to make all tourist and public places disabled-friendly and include persons with disabilities with us in every way.
- Sapna Gupta from Arushi
