65-year-old man rides cycle for different causes

KARIMNAGAR: Swami Ponnala Gourishankar, 65, a native of Sircilla who has settled in Hyderabad, has been cycling the length and breadth of the country, upholding various causes, including that of the Telangana movement, since 2012. Currently promoting Telangana ku Harita Haaram, the former journalist stated that he had started the Haritha Bharati Cycle Yathra to publicise the massive plantation drive taken up by the TRS government in 2015. “I covered 6,000 km along the Godavari river, propagating the ambitious programme as planting of saplings helps human beings in many ways, besides offering protection from the growing pollution,” he explained. The need to spread awareness about it was so vital because a plantation drive could be successful only when the saplings, planted under this programme, were protected, he pointed out.

“To raise awareness about varied topics, I toured 28 states and have ridden from Hyderabad to New Delhi in the course of the past four years. Initially, I had cycled to inform people about the need to protect the Narmada river, and then for the passage of the Telangana Bill in Parliament. I submitted a memorandum to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and then prime minister Manmohan Singh, seeking tabling of the Bill and its passage in Parliament,” Swami Ponnala recalled. He said he cycled because he would always like to be part of the growth of the newly formed state. Once a married man with a family, he left them to take up cycle yatras. He takes shelter in press bhavans in the district headquarters and MLA quarters in Hyderabad during his travels.