Residents do yoga during the 3rd International Yoga Day at Plaza in Chandigarh on June 21, 2017. (Express Archives)
Chandigarh Administration has increased its budget for International Yoga Day event on June 21 by Rs 10 lakh this year. An hour-long event will cost the administration around Rs 40 lakh as compared to Rs 30 lakh last year. The department of AYUSH has floated tenders to invite companies for supplying the material required for the yoga day event, which will be held at Sector 17 Plaza.
The fund will be spent on around 3,000 yoga mats measuring 6 by 2 feet each, 4,000 T-shirts, eight LED screens, 146 boxes of drinking water, 16 loudspeakers, a decked-up stage with flowers, 10 single-seater VIP sofas and carpeting at the Plaza. A senior official of the AYUSH department confirmed that around Rs 40 lakh is being spent and that the tenders have been called for. “It is after we see, which firm has provided the least financial bid, we will be able to give the exact details.
Last year, the cost of each mat was Rs 285 and this time it may have increased,” he said. The tender stated that the interested firms must have a proof of experience for holding similar events amounting to Rs 1 crore per annum for at least three years in India for any government or semi-government body or commercial institution.
The stage will be divided into three different categories – main, which will be four-feet high, one for yoga of 3-feet height and another for media, besides an LED platform. The address of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be telecast live. Yogasanas will be performed as per the national protocol. A drone will also be there to capture the event.
The government college of yoga education and health is teaching yoga at 31 centres across the city. The registration is free of cost and those joining the yoga class will be taught as per the protocol to be followed on the day.
Last year, over Rs 12 lakh was spent on purchasing 3,000 mats and 3,000 yoga T-shirts. Around Rs 8 to 10 lakh was incurred for the stage, tent and sound system. The remaining amount was spent on 14 LED screens installed at the venue for the live telecast of the Prime Minister’s event, packaged water bottles, display boards and green carpeting. Chandigarh hosted the first yoga day event in 2016 when PM Modi presided over. There were 30,000 participants and the number has come down to 3,000 last year. This year too, 3,000 participants are expected at the Plaza.