An Agra resident who wants master blaster Sachin Tendulkar to receive the prestigious Bharat Ratna award, has pedalled his cycle-rickshaw all the way from Agra to Mumbai with his wife to promote his cause.
Rajkumar Savita, a former railway employee who was working in Nagpur, quit his job a year ago and shifted to Agra with his wife Vandana.
Since then, Mr Savita has actively taken up campaigning for his idol.
The couple started from Agra on January 1 in the cycle-rickshaw with some basic requirements. Mr Savita will pedal by the day, and would sleep in the carriage at night.
While on his way to the city, he collected several signatures. He reached Mumbai on Sunday, and hopes to meet Tendulkar on January 26. “Last year, I undertook a similar initiative and pedalled 6,000 km to Mumbai. I also met Tendulkar at his residence. He gave me an autographed bat, which is my prized possession. I never leave it out of my sight,” Mr Savita said.
The Tendulkar fan, who now makes a living by ferrying people on his cycle-rickshaw, has collected thousands of signatures till date, and has stored them carefully in a thick book.
“It is my firm belief that Mr Tendulkar deserves a Bharat Ratna, and I am prepared to go till the office of the President of India, armed with all the signatures I have collected,” he said. Mr Savita is currently living with a friend in Goregaon, and will be meeting the police on Monday to complete all the necessary formalities from the security point of view, before meeting his sports idol.