MUMBAI: In a first-ever such case, four tribal students of Chandrapur in Maharashtra have scaled the Mount Everest on Wednesday.
Manisha Surve, Pramesh Ale, Umakant Madvi and Kavidas Katmode are the four students who scaled the summit. They were among 10 such students who were selected under a joint initiative of Maharashtra Tribal Department and Chandrapur Collectorate called ‘Mission Shaurya’ to climb the world’s tallest mountain peak.
These four students will return to the base camp tonight and two other students Vikas Soyam and Indu Kannake would try scaling the summit tomorrow and the day after respectively, the authorities from the tribal department said here.
All the four students who scaled the summit today are from the state run tribal residential school (Asharam Shala), authorities added. These students were sent to the mission last month.
Their training had started in July 2017. They were trained at Darjiling, Leh and Ladakh. They left for Kathmandu from Mumbai on April 11 after meeting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao and Minister for Tribal Affairs Vishnu Savara.
"Its a historic moment. Its a moment of immense pride for us," said finance minister and guardian minister of Chandrapur Sudhir Mungantiwar, who had been the driving force behind the adventure.