BBIN motor rally ends in Kolkata

The Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Friendship Motor Rally which covered 4,500 km in a span of 20 days ended here on Wednesday.

The rally was hosted to strengthen ties between the four countries and saw 80 members take part in 20 vehicles.

It started from Bhubaneswar on November 14 and then the vehicles traversed through Ranchi, Patna, Siliguri, Gangtok, Phuentosholing, Timphu, Guwahati, Silchar, Agartala, Chittagong, Dhaka and finally ended here at the Prinsep Ghat.

The rally was following the ratification of the Motor Vehicle Agreement for the Regulation of Passenger, Personal, and Cargo Vehicular Traffic with Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal to help smoothen cross border vehicle movement.

"I would like to congratulate all the participants who braved the conditions and successfully completed the rally," Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari told reporters here.

Road Transport and Highways secretary Vijay Chhibber said: "The BBIN will strengthen the bond as well as drive growth in the right direction for all the four participating countries. I am glad that this initiative was so well accepted. Also would like to congratulate the organisers and participants for making this rally a success."

The initiative was a result of the BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement which was signed by transports ministers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal in Thimpu in June 2015.

The rally also witnessed three women participants. One of them was Tamanna Dehury who hails from Bhubaneswar.

"It was my first rally. I just can't describe it in words. It was a wonderful experience. We had to drive through some very good roads, bad roads and no roads which was actually fun," Dehury told IANS.

Representatives of the other three countries who participated in the rally were also present at the event.