Dinesh Kamath's news 'HEART 2016 – a three day musical competition brings thousands of youth; Sixty Five thousand on an average attend 10th Fruit Expo' that was published in Newsband

HEART 2016 – a three day musical competition brings thousands of youth

Sixty Five thousand on an average attend 10th Fruit Expo

By Dinesh Kamath

Above Picture:- Thousands enjoying the music. Inset:- Dr. Jayakar Ellis presenting the prize to the Five of Castles, winners of HEART 2016

NAVI MUMBAI: It was a time of musical extravaganza for three evenings when over 20 bands competed for the first HEART 2016 Title organised by HEART Foundation under their musical project BEATS (Bringing Entertainment And Team Spirit) “Beats For All” in aid of Prevention of Abuse of Children & Teens (PACT) and ‘SEED’ (Save Earth from Eternal Damage) at the NMMC’s 10th Fruits, Plants, Vegetables & Flower Exhibition from 19th to 21st February 2016 at Wonders Park, Nerul, Navi Mumbai.

Over sixty five thousand visitors on an average every day came and took advantage of both, the exhibition and the musical event. “Workshops & lectures were given by Horticulture experts on propagation of plants, Kitchen Garden, Terrace Garden & Identification of plant which were attended by children from many schools. This being the tenth year in succession, we had organized HEART 2016  eminent bands from various cities of Navi Mumbai, Thane, Mumbai, Pune etc. performed to spread the message of LOVE, JOY & PEACE through the Universal language of Music in the form of competition. The first prize went to Five of Castles and the runners up were Karmic Progressions who had come to participate all the way from Kalyan” said Dr. Jayakar Ellis, President of Heart Foundation (HF) and the co-organizer of the event. “At SEED we were able to educate the children, youth and all the members of the community to take up Sowing a Seed very seriously” He added.

Talking to Mr. Chandrakant Tayade, Asst. Municipal Commissioner, NMMC, he said “This exhibition has been so far the best as we had over sixty five thousand walk ins on an average. We had 250 exhibitors and we gave away prizes in 24 groups. Two hundred prizes were awarded in different classes.  We are so happy to be associated with the work Dr Jayakar Ellis and the SEED initiative through his foundation especially in the field of environment.”

“I am so glad to see that our efforts have paid off in terms of the Go Green initiative of the NMMC as the response for this exhibition has been tremendous. I humbly appeal to the people of Navi Mumbai to join hands with us to plant more trees and make this place much better” said Sudhakar Sonawane, Mayor and Chief Guest at the prize distribution ceremony.

The judging of the various competitions at the exhibition was done under the able guidance of Mr. V A Rode, a gold medalist awarded by the MP government.