Swarnim Jayanti Rathyatra to be flagged off on Friday

Gujarat Governor Dr. Kamla will flag off the second phase of Swarnim Sankalp Jyot Rathyatra on Friday at 10:30 am from Gandhinagar on the occasion of birth anniversary of Pujya Ravishankar Maharaj. The Yatra will conclude on 14th April 2010, a birth anniversary of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. Chief Minister and opposition leader Shri Shaktisinh Gohil will also remain present on the occasion. The Yatra will cover 19165 villages in 223 talukas of 26 districts.

In the leadership of Chief Minister Shri Narendrabhai Modi the first phase of the Yatra took place at Amareli from 1st May 2008 and covered 229 cities where around 54 lakh people took pledge for building Swarnim Gujarat and over 11 lakh tree saplings were planted.

During the Yatra, people’s involvement and participation will be encouraged. Every village will organize various programmes for a week before the Yatra actually comes to the village and the day when the Yatra enters the village, will be celebrated as ‘Swarnim Sankalp Avasar Din’. During the week of celebration, various programmes like Prabhat-Feri, Shobha-Yatra, painting and essay competition, fancy-dress competition on the theme of Swarnim Gujarat, cooking competition, healthy child competition, volleyball, kabaddi, kho-kho, village-marathon etc. will be organised and winners will be awarded prices. Elders over 75 years of age, people with special contributions, and bright students will also be honored during the Yatra.

Villagers will take pledge as per their professions and youths will declare to give 100 hours of their lives for the betterment of the Gujarat State.

Live video webcast of this yatra will be available online.