It’s Wednesday morning and Prabhat Tara ground is the cleanest it has ever looked. This is where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will perform yoga with over 35,000 participants, including dignitaries and people from all walks of life, on International Yoga Day on Friday, June 21, for an hour from 6.30am.
Hardly half a kilometre away is the historic temple of Lord Jagannath, facing which yoga enthusiasts will perform asanas on Friday. “We’re hoping the PM is happy with the arrangements. Everything’s looking great, just hope it doesn’t rain,” said one young safai karmchari on the approach road.
With this hope, let’s take a dekko at how things stand before D-Day:
PM’s itinerary
June 20: Modi to land at Birsa Munda Airport by Indian Air Force plane, 10.40pm, reach Raj Bhavan by 11.05pm
June 21: Modi to leave Raj Bhavan at 6.10am, arrive at Prabhat Tara grounds at 6.30am, lead the yoga event till 7.35am, leave for Birsa Munda Airport at 7.40am, take-off for Delhi at 7.55am
CM Raghubar Das along with officials inspect the venue (Prashant Mitra)
Security
The entire Prabhat Tara ground has been divided into six clusters and 44 sectors, with 5,000 security personnel 500 magistrates who will not perform yoga. Venue will be monitored every hour from June 20 midnight. Drone cameras will survey the grounds. Two carcades, each under an IPS, will exclusively concern themselves with the PM’s security. At the airport, two DSPs, five inspectors, 42 sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors, 107 armed personnel, one bomb disposal squad, two tear gas units and one company of Rapid Armed Police will be deputed. On Wednesday, over 150 Special Branch officers were in and around the venue.
Metal detectors at the entrance (Prashant Mitra)
Entrance
There are 11 gates for entry to 44 sectors, all to be covered by khadi mats. Eight sectors near the main stage, where Modi will perform yoga, are reserved for dignitaries. Yoga participants are expected to take their seats between 3am and 5am. More than 50 door frame metal detectors have been kept for installation at the 11 entrance gates.
Basics in place
Ranchi Municipal Corporation has deputed 300 cleanliness workers to clean the road leading to the yoga Venue by 3am of June 20 and are mounting 400 mobile toilets brought from New Delhi around the venue. Fifty water tankers will be kept near the grounds. If the crowd swells beyond capacity, some people will be shifted to Nehru Stadium, 300m from Prabhat Tara grounds, where the live proceedings will be beamed and 7,000 people can perform the asanas. Each of the six clusters has a medical hut, complete with first- aid and stretchers. Two teams of doctors, with lifesaving drugs, will be on the grounds. A cardiac ambulance will be parked for emergencies
A cut-out to welcome PM Narendra Modi (Prashant Mitra)
All matters traffic
On Thursday, June 20, parking along the road connecting Birsa Munda Airport with Raj Bhavan is completely off-limits and traffic is banned from 10.30pm to 11.05pm. On Friday, world yoga day, from 6am to 6.30am, vehicular entry on the connector between Prabhat Tara and Raj Bhavan is restricted. There will be no entry from Shaheed Maidan to JSCA stadium from 6am onwards till all the participants disperse. Vehicles can be parked at cricket ground near Dhurwa Golchakkar, HMT grounds, Smart City grounds, JN College Dhurwa grounds, Brahamachari Ashram (for all), Aam Bagam, New High Court Complex and JSCA stadium (for VIPs), and JSCA stadium (for mediapersons)
Man to watch out for
The chief instructor of the mega yoga programme will be the director of The Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, New Delhi, Ishwarchand Baswa Reddy, said Ayush state director Meera Choudhary. People can watch Reddy and his team on the stage or on 40 giant LED screens
Doordarshan cameras (Prashant Mitra)
Publicity
A Doordarshan team equipped with over 40 cameras and 100 technical and non-technical staff will cover the event live. The main road of HEC Township with the yoga venue has over 50 cut-outs of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Raghubar Das
Weather bulletin
A senior weather scientist of the Indian Meteorology Department in Ranchi R.S. Sharma said rain wouldn’t disturb Friday’s morning programme. “There is possibility of one or two spells of moderate rain on June 20 (Thursday) evening or night. It will be cloudy on Friday morning but we’re not expecting rain,” Sharma said. Deputy commissioner R.M. Ray said even if there was rain, the yoga programme would continue at the open-air venue. “We have directed everyone to maintain discipline and perform yoga even if it rains.”
