Srinagar, June 30: In a bid to expand the tourism avenues in the state, the 3rd Edition Mughal road car rally was flagged off by Minister of State for Tourism, Culture and Home, Nasir Aslam Wani from Royal Spring Golf Course Srinagar on Saturday morning.
 Over 600 kilometers long car rally passes through the historic Mughal road that was once traversed by the caravans of Mughal emperors to reach Kashmir.
 “This is a big step towards promotion of adventure tourism in the State”, Nasir said.
 He said such events prove beneficial to help in exploring untouched areas like Simthan Pass, Peer Ki Gali, Bafliaz and the picturesque medieval Mughal Sarai at Aliabag along the historic Mughal road, that connects Kashmir valley with Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu division.
 He said the rally also encourages the youth of the State to come forward and participate in adventure tourism.
 As Nasir flagged off the rally, 186 adventure lovers hit the historic road in 93 vehicles including motor cycle riders.
 There are two stages of the rally-- transport and competitive stages. The transport stage starts at Srinagar and passed through Pampore-Pulwama-Shopian and Dobjin, while the competitive stage starts through Peer-Ki-Gali and culminate at Bafliaz in Jammu region.
 This 3-day mega event was organized by Himalayan Motor Sport Association, Shimla in association with J&K Tourism Department, sponsored by Jammu and Kashmir Bank, one of the best old generation private sector banks in the Country.
 The event has generated a lot of interest among motor sport lovers with big teams like Mahindra, Tata and Maruti participated in the rally.
 In the next two days the participants would travel over 600 kilometers of hilly terrain passing through the Pir Panchal mountain range before returning Srinagar through Kishtwar.
 As the rally proved a big success last year, a number of participants came all the way from various parts of the country to take part in the thrilling expedition this year as well.
 For the first time, the Mughal road rally also has a home-grown grouping of Kashmir entering the competitive fray-Baba Reshi Lions-with 7 individual teams, the representation was also higher at the event this year.
 JK Bank executive president and chairman sports board Tafazul Hussain was also present on the occasion.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 30 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 30 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 1 Jul 2012 00:00:00 IST