Raid-De-Himalaya: Claims on safety steps fall flat

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 12

Tall claims of organisers of the Maruti Suzuki 17th edition of Raid-De-Himalaya about the elaborate safety measures in place fell flat minutes after the first leg of competitive stage started from Matiyana on the first day on Sunday.

Mohit Verma’s bike (No. 205), competing in Xtreme two-wheel category, rammed into a mountain as he could not negotiate a curve just 300 metres from the starting point at Matiyana and immediate help came from people who had gathered to witness the event.

“We informed the raid authorities about the accident but there was no assistance for 10 minutes even though four riders drove past us at the same time” said advocate Gaurav Sharma, a rescuer.

No ambulance was available and a jeep with doctors came after a while and the injured Mohit, who was in severe pain due to leg injury, was given injection.

Surprisingly, there was no stretcher to carry him and a makeshift arrangement was made, he said, adding that if this was the state of arrangements at the starting point, what would happen midway.

Another witness from Solan Rominder said he was taken by his friends in their vehicle to Theog from where he was further referred to the IGMC, Shimla, and then Chandigarh. Reportedly he suffered three fractures.

However, spokesperson of the Raid-De-Himalaya claimed that proper arrangements were in place and an ambulance was kept in waiting, besides other safety and rescue arrangements.

“We offered him help but he chose to go in a private vehicle with friends. The spot was just 300 mts away from the starting point and as such there was no question of unavailability of ambulance”, he added.

Nine-time winner Manali lad Suresh Rana, driving his Grand Vitara, dominated the race on the first day in Xtreme (4x4) category, closely followed by Raj Singh Rathore and Harpreet Bawa, who were in second and third place.

In the adventure category, Jagmeet Gill and co-driver Chandana Sen finished first with a penalty time of 1 minute 45 seconds while Rajesh Chalana and Yogesh Gupta finished second and Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta were third.

Among the bikers, Arvind KP, Natraj R and Ashish Saurabh Moudgil bagged the top three positions. On the first day, the rallyists covered 300 kilometres from Shimla to Manali while the riders were on their way to Dalhousie covering another 400 km in the second leg of the raid today.