VIJAYAWADA: While the State government and most runners, who participated in the Amaravati Marathon- 2018 on Sunday used it as a platform to promote fitness and health, there were those who wanted to drive home a serious point.
The case in point: Amidst scores of placards which spoke about the importance of physical exercise, Rahul Maganti, a Young India Fellow from the city, had a poster pinned to his back which said, “Justice for agricultural labourers, fisherfolk, farmer and women in Amaravati.”
The idea was to debunk the claims of the TDP government which is promoting the marathon as the one being held in ‘People’s capital Amaravati’, he said. “Amaravati is a capital of people in suits and boots, but not of the common people; marginalised communities like Dalits, women, tenant farmers and farmers, farm labourers and fisherfolk are being forcibly driven out of the region to work as daily wagers in other cities,” he explained. He said he invited trouble as few policemen tried to nab him, but in vain.
Other highlights of this year’s event included the differently abled people taking part in the marathon. About 500 policemen too took part in the marathon. Film actors Shanvi Srivastava and Gowri Munjal hogged the limelight as they took part in the event.
The 21K Half Marathon was successfully completed by M Linganna, G Venkateswarlu, Babu Jaan, P Usha Rani, I Pooja and K Vijayanti. They were awarded. Similarly, G Vijay Kumar, R Ramesh Chandra, Jairesh Yadav, K Sowjanya, D Priyadarshini and Swati Mula got prizes for finishing the 10K run. In the veteran category (44-55 years), Mohammed Idris, Srinivasa Reddy, Sunil Gaur, A Gayatri, Usharani and Lakshmi Sri received medals for crossing the 21K Half Marathon finish line. The winners were also given Jio phones - Reliance Jio being one of the event sponsors - apart from certificates, cash prizes and medals.