New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday flagged off a nationwide motorcycle rally from the National Police Memorial in the national capital to mark Police Commemoration Day, ANI reported.

The bike rally, organised under the theme 'Fight Against Drugs', comprises around 90 riders representing nine States and Union Territories, alongside personnel from Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Central Police Organisations (CPOs), ANI said. The riders will traverse multiple states and culminate their journey at Ekta Nagar in Gujarat, where they will participate in the grand Ekta Parade on October 31, observed nationwide as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas (National Unity Day) to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

In its advance official-statement report, IANS gave the fuller rider list: States and UTs Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi; CAPFs including CRPF, CISF, BSF, SSB, ITBP and NSG; and CPOs including RPF, NDRF and NIA. IANS said police riders from all States, UTs and Central Forces will converge at Ekta Nagar for the October 31 parade.

Earlier in the day, Shah paid solemn floral tributes at the National Police Memorial, honouring police and security personnel who laid down their lives in the line of duty, ANI reported. National Police Commemoration Day is observed annually on October 21 in remembrance of the CRPF personnel who made the supreme sacrifice repelling an ambush by heavily armed Chinese troops at Hot Springs, Ladakh, in 1959. As part of the remembrances, CAPFs and CPOs will hold commemorative events at the memorial from October 22 to 30, including visits by martyrs' families, police band displays, a Run for Martyrs, blood donation camps and essay and painting competitions for children, IANS reported, citing the official statement.

Sources: ANI via LatestLY, IANS via The Freedom Press, IANS via NewKerala.