Two railway men to attempt mountaineering expedition to Mt. Everest, first of its kind for Indian Railways

Pic/Central Railway

In a first of its kind for Indian Railways, two railway men on Friday began their journey to attempt a mountaineering expedition to Mt. Everest, the Central Railway said in an official statement.

According to the Central Railway, Naresh Lalwani, General Manager, Central Railway, formally flagged off the mountaineering expedition to Mt. Everest. He presented Ice Axe with the flag of Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), crest of Central Railway Sports Association (CRSA) to Hemant Jadhav and Sandeep Mokashi, the two railway men who are attempting the feat. The ice axe will be carried by these two when they summit the Mt. Everest.

Speaking on the occasion, Lalwani said "Central Railway Adventure Sports Club members, Hemant Jadhav, Chief Office Superintendent, working in Engineering Branch and Sandeep Mokashi, Office Superintendent, Electrical branch are the first Indian Railway men to achieve the feat of scaling Mt.Nun peak situated at 7135 meters above sea level on August 21, 2022. Now, with the active patronisation of CRSA, they are embarking upon their expedition to Mt Everest. This expedition aims to spread the word of climate change and global warming. This expedition would be the first of its kind from Railways which is itself a record."

He added that the Central Railway Sports Association has 450 active sports persons pursuing 40 types of games, the Central Railway said in the statement.

It said, The Central Railway Adventure Sports Club under Central Railway Sports Association organizes campaigns at many forts in Maharashtra to educate the young minds about the value of trekking and forts. Additionally, they have carried out numerous rescue missions that have saved many lives, and the team engages in a variety of activities such as assisting in disaster zones, planning cycling campaigns, and educating people about the significance of cycling.

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The statement further said, The Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) is the apex organization under the Ministry of Railways that functions with the complete mandate of sports promotion at the national and international podiums. It is the Central Organization for all sporting activities that span national and international Games and Championships. It has presence in all the Divisions and Workshops under the jurisdiction of Central Railway. CRSA has a battery of sports persons who have achieved national and international fame and belong to various sporting fields. They have been bestowed with Padma , Arjun Award, Khel Ratna Award, and other awards like the Shiv Chhatrapati Award in their fields.

"Vivek Kumar Gupta, Chief Administrative Officer Central Railway and President, CRSA, Rajesh Arora, Principal Chief Engineer, Pratik Goswami, Senior Deputy General Manager , Dhruvjyoti Sengupta, Financial Advisor and Chief Accounts Officer (Traffic), Central Railway and General Secretary, Raju Bhadke, Secretary, Central Railway Adventure Sports Club and other members of CRSA, Senior Officers of Central Railway were also present during the event to wish the railway men success in their expedition," the Central Railway said.