TIRUPATI: Twenty-two-year-old graduate C Yashwanth Kumar embarked on an all Andhra Pradesh cycle yatra on Wednesday with a mission to ‘save the coastline from human greed’. During his 3,200 km yatra, he will cover 20 major destinations in the State and spread awareness on human errors causing coastal pollution.
The cycle expedition was flagged off by NCC Commandant Colonel Balaji Dayal, who mentored the cyclist, and K Vinod Kumar, MD of V Bikes, sponsor for accessories and accommodation. He will cover Tirupati, Chittoor, Madanapalle, Tada, Nellore, Kavali, Ongole,
Guntur, Vijayawada, Machilipatnam, Eluru, Rajahmundry, Kakinada, Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam, Ichchapuram, Kurnool and Anantapur. Finally, the yatra will conclude at Tirupati.
During the 22-day journey, he will pedal 160 km a day on an average. For this journey, Yashwanth’s parents C Rajani Kumar and C Saraswati bought him a top-end bicycle costing `1 lakh.
Earlier, Yashwanth had completed two lone cycle expeditions to Rameswaram and Jammu and Kashmir. The first journey was to Rameswaram from Tirupati, where he cycled about 700 km to publicise the former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam’s ‘Vision 2020’. During the second expedition to Jammu and Kashmir, the youth cycled 3,000 km from Tirupati as part of ‘Pedal for Eco-friendly India’ Mission.
“My ultimate goal is to make people realise the human mistakes that are devastating the coastline,” Yashwanth said. Through this expedition, he also wanted to explore other issues that are causing damage to the environment. Later, he plans to take up another expedition to promote environmental awareness among people.