60ft x 40ft stage to be showpiece of Kolkata’s biggest yoga event this Sun

Kolkata: A giant stage — 12ft high, 60ft long and 40ft wide — is being constructed on Red Road where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to lead the 12th International Day of Yoga along with chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on June 21. The stage backdrop will be almost 36ft high.

This is by far the biggest-ever stage to be constructed for any govt event in the city.Bengal is hosting the event for the first time since its introduction in 2014. The state govt is organising it jointly with the Union ministry of Ayush.The stage is located in the middle of about 2km long Red Road near the Eden Gardens side and is spread across the entire width of the road, which has been shut for traffic movement for a week.From building and decorating the stage to installing lights, screens on the steel-made structures along the road and cleaning the place, over 500 workers engaged by different companies have been working day in and day out to make arrangements at the venue for the celebration, according to sources. The event is likely to see a turnout of around 50,000-odd people on Sunday.On a visit to Red Road on Tuesday, TOI found that the workers were busy installing steel parts to construct the stage and then the preparation will start for decorations.

For crowd management, bamboo guards have been placed along roadside railings. “There will be many people who will not participate in yoga but throng the pavements to catch glimpses of the PM, the CM and the event. That is why, the height of the railings have been raised with bamboos to ensure that the onlookers don’t spill on the road,” said a cop posted there.The work for the yoga day celebrations kicked off a couple of days ago, according to the workers.

The police, state officials and teams from event management companies are checking the progress of the work daily. “About 70% of the stage work has been done by today and only some fittings are left. The workers are toiling in shifts to prepare the venue. This afternoon, about 200 people are at work, only to finish the stage construction, and then the decoration work will start.

Given the pace of the work, the venue is likely to be fully ready,” said Suraj Shau who was overseeing the arrangements.

Alamgir Shah, a local worker said, “Some of us are taking rest during the day time and working throughout the night to prepare the setup for the celebration.”Many workers from outside the stage have joined the local workforce at Red Road and some of them experienced readying venues for the same event in other state previously. Aryan Chouhan, a worker from Bihar stated, “I had worked on Yoga Day setup in Visakhapatnam last year. I feel that the event is going to have a bigger dimension in Kolkata this time.”