Ajeet Kumar Sahu, IAS Deputy Commissioner Poonch, flagged off the run from Poonch Stadium at 8:30am. The run was organized in three separate categories: Girls, boys and veterans. More than 300 persons belonging to various schools, colleges and organisations, including Army, participated in the run.

Lot of enthusiasm and fervour was seen in the participants who hailed the administration for providing them such competitions and opportunities. Lot of prominent citizens had gathered to encourage the youth for taking part in the run.

Speaking on the occasion, Dy Commissioner Poonch highlighted the motto of the run: “The race has been organized to increase the interaction among youth belonging to various religions, castes and creed. This will strengthen the bond of love amongst different communities, encourage sportsmanship spirit in the youth and strengthen the prevailing sports-culture in the district,” Mr. Sahu said.

Nirdosh Sharma, Incharge Sports Stadium was the organising secretary of the function and also present on the occasion were SP Poonch Shamsheer Hussain Chaoudhary, CO 39 RR Col Munish, Padamshree Shambhunath Khajuria, KK Kapoor, Advocate Raina, Advocate Bazmi and lot of district officers.

Details of winners:

Girls Open; 1st prize: Ruksana Tabassum; 2nd Prize: Tahira Parveen; 3rd Prize- Sahida Begum

Boys Open: 1st prize: Prince Paul Singh; 2nd prize: Md Farooq 3rd: Gafoor Ahmed

Veteran: 1st prize- Manohar Lal; 2nd Prize; Babu Singh; 3rd Prize: Randhir Singh

Cash prizes were given to the winners. Consolation prizes were also given to 15 players. Pertinent to mention Poonch is a extreme border district of Jammu & Kashmir which has multi sectarian, multi religious, multi ethnic and multi lingual but conflict ravaged society.

Maintaining peace and harmony amongst the communities always remains a challenge for the administration. Such festivals and events help in increasing the bonding among the people.