Haryana's 'Raahgiri' events attract over a lakh participants in 40 days

Over one lakh people participated in the 55 'Raahgiri' events organised by the Haryana government over a period of 40 days, an official said today.

The community-connect programmes were held in different districts of the state every Sunday to offer people a platform to bond. It also provided a stage to local artistes to showcase their talent.

Since April 22, 55 'Raahgiri' events have been organised across the state in 40-odd days, a senior official in the chief minister's office said here. "An estimated 1,06,650 people have participated, putting average participation at 1,939 persons per event," revealed O P Singh, special officer looking after the implementation of the programme.

"The highest individual turnout of 12,000 was at Kurukshetra Raahgiri on May 20, the event that Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar himself attended," Singh added.

The official credited the events for helping the district administration align itself to the unique needs of youth by reaching out to them directly and forging a good working relation with them.

The exercise will also aid in preventing youth alienation and resolving hostile crowd-situation peacefully through dialogue and negotiation, he said.

To ensure popular and meaningful participation, the district administration was reaching out to various youth, sports, drama and cultural clubs, NGOs, the Nehru Yuva Kendra, National Service Scheme volunteers and NCC cadets among others, Singh added.

It also plans to utilise the skills of officials, teachers and instructors associated with physical training and education. Every coach and sports quota government employee will be expected to mentor at least 100-150 aspiring players, he said.

A successful Raahgiri, Singh said, is an indicator of a field functionary's level of commitment, scale of anticipatory planning and proficiency in soft-skills like analytics, networking, communication, public speaking and database management.