Meet Sushil Reddy, 26-year-old, IIT-Bombay(Mumbai) alumnus, has secured a place in the Guinness World Records for completing the longest journey on a solar-powered bicycle. From Mumbai to Goa, he cycled across nine Indian states (covering approximately 7,424 km in 79 days) to raise awareness about energy crisis in India and encourage people to use solar panels as a sustainable source of energy.
To promote non-renewable resources for power consumption, he fixed certain solar panels to a bicycle’s body and chose to travel across certain parts of the country.
The exact route for the this long journey was via IIT Bombay, Valsad, Surat, Baroda, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Diu, Somnath, Porbandar, Dwarka, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Mt. Abu, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Bhatinda, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Roorkee, Delhi, Jaipur, Ajmer, Deogarh, Udaipur, Gandhinagar, Bharuch, Surat, Vapi, and then back to pavilion, IIT Bombay.
He didn’t travel alone, though. A team of three people, including Krunal Tailor, Rajendra Bhaskar, and Himanshu Singh, followed and helped him manage to pedal around the country. Meanwhile, the team also helped Reddy to highlight certain points and relevant information about solar power via seminars, which they organized in various schools, colleges, and universities. Apart from the educational institutions, they also interacted with local people about the same.
During the ride, he also raised funds for Hockey Village India – NGO that integrates sports and education in rural areas of Rajasthan’s Jatwara village. In the schools of this region, the NGO provides education facilities to children and also encourage them to play sports, besides focusing on academic courses.
But the problem is the frequent power cuts that somehow affect their studies. However, with the help of the raised funds, now the schools in this village can use a good solar-powered system that will surely solve the problem and help the students to progress for a better life.
It’s really commendable how a young man left all the comforts behind for a noble cause. Reddy’s journey to aware people about solar power in India doesn’t end here. Reddy is also planning now to start a crowdfunding campaign to help the Jatwara village in Rajasthan. Plus, he has envisioned a green future where using technology solar-powered ecosystem can be built for sustainable living in India.
Via: ScoopWhoop