A 5-km Green Ride Cyclothon event was flagged off from New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday.

The event was organised under the leadership of Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan, who himself led the 5 km Green Ride.

The Cyclothon attracted around 5,000 participants along with officials from various ministries and film star Farhan Akhtar.

Actor Farhan Akhtar took to Twitter to share a glimpse of the Cyclothon event.

And they’re off.. over 4000 entries in the 1st edition of @pedaldelhi .. well done Delhi. #IAmASuperhero pic.twitter.com/MSNB6RQp8e

— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) November 5, 2017

Delhi Chief of Bharatiya Janata Party, Manoj Tiwari, also shared a message on Twitter regarding the event.

सुबह मैंने पेट्रोलियम मंत्री @dpradhanbjp , @Dr_Uditraj , @FarOutAkhtar के साथ 5 km की साइकल रेस में भाग लिया ..#IAmASuperhero pic.twitter.com/VM0r59gsFj

— Manoj Tiwari (@ManojTiwariMP) November 5, 2017

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited Twitter handle posted a video of Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan talking about the Cyclothon event.

@dpradhanbjp at @pedaldelhi #IAmASuperhero pic.twitter.com/6Az9haOSAD

— ONGC (@ONGC_) November 5, 2017

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also shared a message on Twitter about the event and said “Cycling can be such a fun. Thoroughly enjoyed it. ”

Sharing a few more glimpses of Green Ride. Cycling can be such a fun. Thoroughly enjoyed it. pic.twitter.com/JbgizN2AB2

— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) November 5, 2017

The genesis of the cyclothon lay in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to people in his monthly radio show ‘Mann Ki Baat’ about avoiding the use of petrol & diesel for one day in the week to conserve fuels and contribute towards nation-building.

The promotion of cycling through this event is aimed at instilling socio-environmental consciousness among citizens towards the larger aim of conserving foreign exchange on fuel imports.

Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan said that benefits of cycling are not only limited to protect environment or fuel conservation but it also carries huge health and fitness dividends.

Pradhan further said that judicious use of various forms of energy and its conservation is a matter of vital importance to all of us for the betterment of our society and healthy environment. Pradhan said that conservation is a collective responsibility of all of us.

Pradhan appealed to all citizens to join in the movement for conserving the finite petroleum resources and urged to all citizens to come together and work for building a nation that is green, environmentally clean and pollution free.

Based on the distance to be covered, the Cyclothon featured four categories, Elite (Men – 45 km/women-27 km), Amateur (27 km), and 9 km Open and the 5 km Green Rides.

The winner in the Elite (Men’s) category was Satbir Singh, while the Elite Women’s championship was won by T Manorama Devi. Over 5,000 cyclists participated in the Green ride amidst an atmosphere of gaiety and revelry, with almost all comfortably completing the 5 km stretch.

The Cyclothon under the banner of Saksham Pedal Delhi was organised by Petroleum Conservation & Research Association (PCRA), and supported by the oil companies IOCL, BPCL, HPCL, ONGC, GAIL, OIL, MRPL, CPCL, NRL and IGL with technical guidance from Cycling Federation of India.

Another 76 such cyclothons are planned Pan-India over the next 2 months to sensitise the country to adopt the ideology of conservation for a greener environment.