Animal lover from Mancherial pedals 14,000 kms for cause

Mancherial: Padma Sandesh Gupta, a passionate animal lover hailing from Mancherial town embarked on another novel yet mammoth expedition of nine jyotirlingas or popular abodes of Lord Shiva by pedaling a distance of 14,000 kilometers for a unique cause for a period of 200 days. He set out on this marathon journey to spread awareness […]

Mancherial: Padma Sandesh Gupta, a passionate animal lover hailing from Mancherial town embarked on another novel yet mammoth expedition of nine jyotirlingas or popular abodes of Lord Shiva by pedaling a distance of 14,000 kilometers for a unique cause for a period of 200 days. He set out on this marathon journey to spread awareness among motorists over deaths of animals on national-highways here on Sunday.

The 31-year old social activist told ‘Telangana Today’ that he would initially visit Sri Vaidyanath Jyotirlinga at Parli in Maharashtra and cover the remaining shrines located in Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand states. He thanked his friends and donors who voluntarily donated funds for the cause. He added that he would pedal somewhere between 50 kilometers and 70 kilometers a day and reach his goal.

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Sandesh earlier performed special prayers at Sri Hanuman-Shirdi Sai temple in Hamaliwada in the town and then commenced his cycling. He was blessed by his parents Nagabhushanam and Jayalaxmi, siblings Santhosh and Sandeep and friends belonging to different parts of the district. He adorned his cycle with a tri-color flag and poster conveying the objective of his unusual attempt.

Meanwhile, Mancherial municipal vice-chairperson Gajula Mukesh Goud, Bharatiya Janata Party district president Verabelli Raghunath Rao, Aam Aadmi Party’s leader Nalla Nagendra Prasad, Traffic Inspector Naresh Kumar and local councilors felicitated Sandesh on beginning another endeavor. Mukesh opined that Sandesh was passionately creating awareness over the need to save animals that were crushed to death after coming under wheels on national highways.

Accomplished 2 expeditions

Sandesh successfully cycled from Mancherial to Varanasi, in order to create awareness on deaths of animals by vehicles on national highways covering a distance of 2,500 kilometers, from June 27 to August 4 in 2021. He had pedaled a 4,000 kilometer long expedition from Mancherial to temple town Rameshwaram of Tamil Nadu for the same cause in October last.

He had founded Friends Animal Trust, a Mancherial-based voluntary organization that strives for feeding monkeys inhabit on the premises of prominent temples of the district and neighboring Peddapalli and Jagtial district, and conducts final rites of animals that die on roads, by accepting donation of barely Rs 1 from users of social media platforms.