Motorbike expedition to Kashmir flagged off

Talking to The Indian Express, head of the team, Kapileshwar, who belongs to a Mumbai-based tour and travel agency, City Cross, said the motive behind the expedition was to tell the tourists from outside the state in general and from Maharashtra in particular that the situation was normal in Kashmir and Ladakh. He further said that about 3.5 lakh tourists including the Amarnath pilgrims had visited the Kashmir Valley last year. But the number declined this year due to the Kargil conflict.

He further said that during the expedition they will pass very closely to the LoC Line of actual Control in Drass-Kargil sector just to tell everybody that there was no danger of any kind in the region or the entire state and tourists were completely safe in Kashmir. A large number of tourists from all parts of the country have the desire to visit Kashmir but were hesitating due to the Kargil happenings, he said adding that the expedition will help allay their doubts and fears.

Kapileshwar, who is a well known trekker having successfully led expeditions in Sahyadri and in the Himalayas, said that the whole team which belongs to City Cross has not sought or received any kind of help or sponsorship from anybody and was on the mission on their own. The other members of the team include Nitin Shastri, Dinesh Patil and Pramod Kulkarni all having accomplished many trekking expeditions. They are riding 100 cc motorbikes.