Girl pedals 1950 km for women empowerment
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, March 12
Pedalling for women empowerment and healthy India, 35-year-old mountaineering professional Pratibha Dattani on concluded her 1950-km journey in Amritsar on Thursday.
Dattani, who began her journey from Pune on February 27, finished it at the Attari-Wagah border. Her motive was to spread awareness regarding fitness and environment.
Calling her journey a mission to promote ‘zero emission, zero money’ mode of transport, Pratibha said: “My aim is to promote cycling as a zero emission and zero money mode of conveyance. We need to create awareness regarding cycling as it is healthy for us and for the nature. It also reduces commotion on roads,” she said while interacting with students at Guru Nanak Dev University.
Pratibha, who rode through Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, said she had to prepare herself mentally, physically and emotionally for the endeavour. “I had to prepare for challenges both on road as well as off road. I set a target for each day and pedalled, sometimes 80 km a day. I was warned of unsafe highways, especially in Haryana, so I made sure that I ended my day’s ride before night.”
Coming from a rural background, Pratibha, who belongs to Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, said campaigns such as Khelo India were important for women empowerment. “I have experienced that in India, there are not many places that offer sports facilities and so women do not get a chance to enhance their sports skills. I feel that women empowerment can be truly realised by encouraging women to make sports and fitness a part of their lifestyle. First, their health should be empowered.”
She said India needed to develop cycling tracks in every city and town to promote cycling as a mode of transport. “Our roads are unsafe for cyclists and we need to create space for them to ensure that they commute safely.”
