TAWANG, 20 Nov: Tawang district on Sunday entered the Guinness Book of World Records by forming ‘the largest helmet sentence’ to highlight the importance of road safety, especially in the mountains.
A total of 2,350 helmets were used to form the sentence ‘Jai Hind’ at the Gyalwa Tsangyang Gyatso high-altitude stadium here on Sunday.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu blew the whistle at 6:30 am to start the proceedings. By 8 am, the helmet sentence formation was completed, with Khandu and the MLAs of Tawang and West Kameng districts leading to place the helmets according to the formation.
The event, titled ‘Lakshya’ – to create awareness on road safety by making the world record – was organised by the Amazing Namaste Foundation, in collaboration with the state government.
Khandu and Amazing Namaste Foundation chairman Atul Kulkarni jointly received the certificate of confirmation from Guinness Book of World Records representative, Swapnil Dangorikar.
Speaking on the occasion, Khandu said that “awareness on road safety measures and adherence to traffic rules have become all the more important with improved roads in the hills.”
“People, especially youths, riding bikes, tend to drive faster and faster on good roads. It has been found that overspeeding is the major cause of accidents on our roads here. Therefore, this event and the creation of a world record would draw attention of the people towards road safety and mandatory use of helmets while riding two-wheelers,” he said.
A survey carried out by the government indicates that about 1.5 lakh lives are lost annually in road accidents in India.
“Making it to the Guinness Book of World Records with ‘Jai Hind’ formed with the largest number of helmets is not only a message to the people of Arunachal but from all over India who come visiting our mountainous state and get carried away by the natural beauty and quality of roads. Follow traffic rules and use helmets,” Khandu said.
A motorcycle rally was also organised to create awareness on road safety. About 200 riders from various parts of the state, along with CRPF personnel and the CM himself, participated in it.
The CM later handed over souvenirs to the bikers.
The event was attended also by Tawang MLA Tsering Tashi and all four MLAs of West Kameng district – Phurpa Tsering (Dirang), Kumsi Sidisow (Thrizino-Buragaon), Dongru Siongju (Bomdila) and Darjee Wangdi Kharma (Kalaktang), besides officials of the district administration. (CM’s PR Cell)
