E-Paper
R-Day to be short and sweet
THE 56th REPUBLIC Day parade function here would be short and snappy. Apart from cultural programme by school children and tableaux of various department, the conventional march past by the various units of police and the army has been pruned by half-an-hour, apparently on the direction of Governor TV Rajeswar.
THE 56th REPUBLIC Day parade function here would be short and snappy.
Apart from cultural programme by school children and tableaux of various department, the conventional march past by the various units of police and the army has been pruned by half-an-hour, apparently on the direction of Governor TV Rajeswar.
Besides, the venue for Beating The Retreat programme on January 29 has been shifted from the Laxman Mela Ground to Dr Ambedkar Rally Maidan. As usual, a spectacular fire works and pyrotechnique display and the award distribution ceremony would mark the event’s finale. Confirming the reduction, additional district magistrate (City-East) Janardan Baranwal said the decision was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by Chief Secretary R Ramni. The ADM, however, had his own take on why the usual two-hour-long event had been slashed. “Pehle bahut sare ghatiya karyakram hote the. Humne inhe hata diya, jisse ab adha ghanta kum ho gaya hai (A lot of cheap programme (whatever that means) were included earlier. We have decided not to include them because of which the show has been shortened by half-an-hour,” the ADM explained. He said the selection committee had included only quality programme for the parade.
So, the parade, which begins at 10 am and concludes at 12 noon would now end at 11.30 am. The Prabhat Pheri and the flag hoisting ceremony, however, would be held as per schedule at 6 am and 8 am respectively. Sources said the Governor had instructed the officials to cut down the parade timings at the last year’s R-Day function. Not surprising, therefore, the number of tableaux this time round has been limited to just 12 against 20 that were put on display last year. The R-Day rehearsal would commence from January 22 and would be followed up by a full-dress rehearsal on January 24.
The Republic Day celebrations would start from January 25 from Jyotiba Phule Stadium in Chowk where apart from a PT display by school children a host of cultural programme would be staged under the aegis of the education department. A major attraction of the day at the stadium would be an aero-modelling display by the NCC members at 1 pm. This would be followed by a ‘mushaira’ and a ‘kavi-sammelan’ later in the evening at Vishvesharaya Hall in PWD Guest House opposite Raj Bhawan.
