Stage set for 2nd International Yoga Day; 30,000 ‘chosen ones’ wait for mega event | The Indian Express

Over the past month, Tejpal Singh has been toiling hard at the training camps with one aim — to do yoga with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 21 at Capitol Complex. And he is happy to have been picked for the mega event.

A total of 30,000 participants —10,000 each from Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana — will participate in the event. While the main event will be held at Capitol Complex, city residents will do yoga at a total of 180 centres across the city.

The Chandigarh administration has put in a lot of efforts into making the arrangements for the event. In the run-up to it, a four-day yoga festival and month-long training camps were organised at 180 locations for which nearly 45,000 residents enrolled.

As many as 30,500 blue, pink and other coloured Indian-made mats with the Yoga Day logo, and of the specified 5 mm thickness and 6X2 ft size have been laid on green-coloured carpet covering around 12 lakh sq ft of area.Elaborate arrangements have been made for the participants, such as 40 LED screens at the venue, 300 prefabricated bio-toilets and over 300 dustbins. As many as 1.25 lakh water bottles have been purchased for the participants.

Also, a total of 100 ushers have been hired for escorting VVIPs and general public, while 100 security guards have been tasked with managing guests.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will give a short address before doing yoga asanas with the participants.

Entry to start at 4am
Entry to the venue will start by 4am and close by 5.30 am through designated entry points. After the one-hour event that will start at 7 am, participants will get to take home the mat on which they do their asanas. They are also going to be given T-shirts and bags containing printed material.

Live telecast in 100 locations
LED screens have been put up at all the 100 venues for live telecast of the main event from Capitol Complex. The administration is spending over Rs 42 lakh on LEDs. The decision has been taken for the benefit of residents who could not make it to the main event due to space constraints.

“We don’t want anyone to feel disheartened. This is why we have installed LEDs on all the venues,where one-month training camps were organised,” informed home secretary Anurag Agarwal.

Venue spruced up
The concrete expanse of Capitol Complex have been beautified with ornamental plants on which the administration spend Rs 4.23 lakh. Around 4,000 ornamental plants —200 each Dwarf Chandni, Tecoma Stans, Hamelia Patens, Ficus Tall, Junipers and Areca Palm; 50 Golden Bottle Topiary and 2000 Ground Cover — have been planted at the Complex. Besides, a total of 1,000 earthen pots with different varieties of flowers have been placed across the venue. Both the pools, along with the main stage, have been decorated with rose flowers.

Dress code
The participants will have to wear black or blue colour lowers, while administration will provide white colour T shirts.

Pvt buses to ferry participants
To avoid disruption of the inter-city bus service, administration has decided not to use CTU buses for transporting participants to the venue. UT deputy commissioner Ajit Balaji Joshi, who is the nodal officer of the event, said buses belonging to schools and private transporters will be used and they will be paid for the fuel. “Schools are closed for summer vacations so school buses will be free,” said Joshi.
The administration has spend around Rs 2.49 lakh for lighting arrangements with power backup in the parking area near Capitol Complex. Vacant land near Capitol Complex and Chandigarh Club will be used for parking buses ferrying participants to the venue. No private vehicles will be allowed and a total of 600 buses will be used to transport participants from Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana.

Cellphones allowed
The participants will be allowed to carry their cellphones to enable them to click selfies. As large number of youngsters are expected to take part, administration will set up a selfie zone at the entrance of the Capitol Complex where people can click selfies.
All the participants have been issued Aadhaar-linked radio frequency identification cards. The participants have be divided into groups of 50, with one person as a group coordinator.

Sculptures at venue
Sculptures prepared by Anuj Saini, a landscaper and a member of the Rock Garden Society, representing 21 yoga asanas will be placed across the venue. Saini is the son of the late Nek Chand, creator of Rock Garden, a sculpture garden.

Section 144 imposed
The administration has imposed Section 144 of CrPC within 200-metre area around all routes — main route, alternative route and contingency route — which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take during his two-day visit starting on June 20. Section 144 of CrPC has also been imposed near Capitol Complex and Punjab Raj Bhawan from noon on June 20 to noon on June 21.