Malda: Thousands take part in marathon to preserve history of dist & mangoes

MALDA: The Gour Malda Police Marathon was flagged off on Sunday with the aim to preserve the rich history of the district as well as promote the King of fruits synonymous with the district.

Different programmes were organised on Sunday morning at Gour’s Lokochuri

Darwaza area under the English Bazaar police station of Malda district. Representatives of districts and various states participated in the historic marathon run.

State minister of North Bengal Development Department and Irrigation Department Sabina Yasmin, Malda Range DIG Anup Jaiswal, Malda District Magistrate Nitin Singhania, Superintendent of Police Pradeep Kumar Yadav, former footballer Mehtab Hossain, famous actor of Bengali cinema Abir Chattopadhyay, MLA Abdur Rahim Bakshi and other officials were present.

Minister of State for Irrigation Sabina Yeasmin, said: “I am very much thankful to the police for organising such a wonderful event. With the improvement of relations between the police and the public, the crime rate has dropped. This initiative is to bridge the gap between the public and the police. The presence of a huge crowd to watch the marathon is also praiseworthy.”

The marathon started at eight o’clock in the morning. First, the 21 km marathon was officially inaugurated. Then the 10 km marathon started in two stages. In the end, a five-kilometre marathon was flagged off for the general public.

Actor Abir Chattopadhyay and other officials and public representatives ran with the marathon torch. Thousands of young and old people ran past different historical monuments of Gour.

Dr Pradeep Yadav, SP Malda, said: “Malda has much potential in trade, tourism and sports. We want to showcase our district through this Marathon. This is also a part of community policing. The Marathon has had an overwhelming response. The grand success of the event will pave the path for many opportunities and development of the district.”

This is the first marathon run organised by the district police to promote the historical monuments and mangoes of the district.

The first, second and third participants in all three categories were given cash prizes by the district police.

Neeraj completed the 21 Km in 1:05:34 winning the male open category; Dimple Singh emerged as the winner in the 21 km clocking 1:24:43; Rinu Kumar bagged the first position for male, 10 km clocking 33:06; Pooja Verma won the women’s open 10km completing in 41:21 seconds.