Vinod Punmiya travelled from Mumbai to Delhi on his bicycle to spread the message of peace

On January 26, cyclist Vinod Punmiya was flagged off from the Gateway of India by Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, musician Pandit Jasraj and writer-poet Javed Akhtar. Four days later, the 52-year-old reached India Gate after covering a distance of nearly 1,500 km.

On his ‘wheel to heal mission’, Punmiya undertook the journey to spread the message of peace after the Mumbai terror attacks.

On Friday, he met President Pratibha Patil at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and presented a citation against terror attacks from the people of Mumbai.

Accompanied by a pilot car, an ambulance and 20 delegates from Mumbai, Punmiya covered nearly 350 km every day. “People welcomed us throughout the journey,” he says.

A resident of Dombivili in Mumbai suburbs, Punmiya had represented India in the 1985 World Cycling Championship. His name also figures in the Limca book of World Records for beating the Mumbai-Pune Deccan Queen train on his bicycle in a race in 2007.

The initiative, sponsored by the Indian Oil Corporation and Union Bank, was planned in a way that the group could pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary.

Meeting the President, Punmiya says, was a wonderful experience. “She congratulated us and thanked us for our effort to spread the message of peace,” he says.

Coordinator Prashant Ambekar says, “The President said more citizens should come forward for such missions because they are good for the morale of the country.”