IT Minister at race
By Pulkit Sharma

The Minister of Information Technology, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Ponnala Lakshmaiah, flagged off ‘The Republic Ride - 2012’, India's biggest corporate cycling event in Hyderabad at Gachibowli Stadium on the morning of Republic Day.

More than 4000 bicyclists from well over 50 MNC companies such as Ascendas IT Parks – The V and CyperPearl, Mahindra Satyam, Invesco, BSA, ADP, Deloitte, GE, ADP, GMR, Infosys, CA, Wells Fargo, Invesco, Diebold, Thermo Fischer participated in The Republic Ride.

Earlier, the minister hoisted the national flag and addressed the gathering and said that the state government is to start separate cycling tracks in select places like Kondapur, Madhapur etc. in the city to ensure safety of bicyclists like in many western countries and encourage bicycling culture in city. Stating further, Mr. Lakshmaiah added that IT department has created 1.8 millions sq. ft. new work area for IT companies in the last year.  He complimented Atlanta Foundation for organising such a massive cycling event. He assured IT industry of all kind of help from the Government and said that his department is one click away from their laptop. 

A Hyderabad based trust, The Atlanta Foundation, along with prominent industry forums viz NASSCOM, ITsAP, TiE and AMCHAM (American Chamber of Commerce in India) and with the support of the Hyderabad Visitors Convention Bureau (HCVB) and the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) organised the India’s biggest ever corporate cycling event, The Republic Ride – 2012 on the occasion of the Republic Day. They have also adopted it as their annual event.

This year the event was sponsored by Ascendas IT Parks – The V and CyperPearl, Mahindra Satyam, Invesco, ADP and BAS. The ride, which began in 2009 with 189 riders, has gone on to receive a record number of 4000 bicyclists this year. These cyclists rode the different distance options of 100 kms, 50 kms, 10 kms and 5 kms depending on their personal capacity. The riders pedaled through Nanakramguda (ISB Road), Osman Road / Langer House Road, Himayat Sagar, ICFAI Business School (Shankarpally Road) and reached back to Gachibowli to the finishing point. 

Along with the ride, a cycling carnival was also held with several cool cycle based games like Roulette, Hook 'em, Paar 3, Ring O, Toollaverid and Wheel of Fortune. There were food stalls, and plenty of activities like the Flag Me! Contest  where over 100 flags of 100 different countries were on display.