Mismanagement on rehearsal day

Reaching Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan in the wee hours of Monday - for the dress rehearsal of the Yoga Day event to be attended by PM Narendra Modi - was an ordeal for a large number of participants.

The stretch from Smriti Upvan to the venue was chock-a-block with buses plying students and volunteers from across the city.

At 4am, there was a massive traffic jam, and students had to deboard nearly 3km from Smriti Upvan. Lack of drinking water arrangements on the ground compounded their woos, as they had arrived much in advance for the rehearsal, which began only at 7am.

The only solace was that the district administration had set up some water stalls outside the venue.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who was present at the rehearsal, also took note of the missing water arrangements on the ground. He instructed officials to ensure that there was a water bottle next to every participant on Yoga Day - June 21.

To add to the volunteers’ problems, once the rehearsal was over - at around 7.50pm - every one was allowed to exit the venue together. This resulted in a big crowd at gate number one.

Besides, there was no barricading or separate exits for men and women, which caused further problems for female volunteers.

To add to all, participants forgot everything about PM Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Mission, and littered the roads with used water bottles.