Jaipur runs for world-class city

JAIPUR: It was a run to imbibe the spirit of a world-class city among the citizens. And nothing, not even the early morning chill, could hold back
Jaipurites.
No sooner had the day broken, people began pouring in thousands, cutting across all age groups to the Ramniwas Bagh, all geared up to take to the road for the 6-km half-marathon and the 21-km full marathon organised by the state tourism department and supported by a few organisations.
But perhaps the heat of their enthusiasm was just a little too much. For, no sooner did actor Salman Khan appear to flag off the half-marathon, all guards broke loose.
The crowd was at its wits end as youngsters and frenzied fans whistled and began shouting ‘Salman Bhai, Salman Bhai.’ Everyone began pushing each other to have a glimpse of their favourite actor clearly taking the organisers off guard.
If that was not enough, an unruly crowd of about 100 odd youngsters started throwing chairs and bottles on police and the latter had to resort to a lathicharge. However, no one was injured. But that had clearly stolen the half marathon of its charm. And Salman Khan was denied permission to participate in it by the police.
“The situation became so tense that Salman was rushed to the car escorted by police,” said Suresh Mishra, president of Sanskriti, an organisation working for social causes. The organisers claimed that the actor was prepared to participate in the ‘Dream Run’ of 6 km but due to security reasons he was denied permission.
“I came from Alwar to run with the actor. The organisers shouldn’t have given us the impression that the actor will run with us,” said a fan who had bought a new athletic kit for the event. More than 20,000 people participated in the Dream Run which finished at World Trade Park on JLN Marg.
Next it was the turn of home minister Shanti Dhariwal and DGP Harish Meena to flag off the full marathon that saw over 2,000 people, mostly athletes, sportsmen and people from the defence background, participate.
Sandeep Kumar, an athlete from Bangalore, and Preeti Rao, an athlete from Bikaner, won the race in the male and female categories, respectively by completing the run in 1.08 hours and 1.10 minutes. The winners
received Rs 1 lakh each as prize money.
The organisers had smartly crafted the route by mixing areas from the new city as well as those from the Walled City to give the participants a taste of the state-of-art buildings on the JLN Marg and the old heritage buildings. To motivate the participants flowers were showered from a helicopter onto them. “The event has raised our spirits and created enthusiasm to work and co-operate towards developing this city into a world-class one,” said Dharam Singh, a retired Army officer who participated in the race along with his 15-year-old grandson. This event recorded a turnout of 22,000 participants.
State tourism minister Bina Kak, Jaipur MP Mahesh Joshi and mayor Jyoti Khandelwal were also present at Ramniwas Bagh to receive the winners.
Actor Rajiv Khandelwal who was also present in the morning said, “I was surprised by the huge turnout of people which was very encouraging.”