As India woke as much as have a good time its 74th Republic Day, hundreds turned up on the newly-renovated and renamed Kartavya Path in New Delhi on a chilly and cloudy winter morning to witness the Republic Day parade on Thursday.
The parade that all the time has one thing for every one didn’t disappoint this yr’s gathering, a mixture of women and men, senior residents and youngsters, college students and dealing professionals, and distributors and every day wagers.
Whereas the parade supplied a variety of points of interest, together with motorbike stunts, numerous bands and marching contingents, tableaux, and cultural efficiency, for many guests it was the expertise of witnessing the grand occasion stay that was memorable.
Ninety-year-old Vashisth Singh, a retired assistant engineer from Ranchi, who had seen the parade on TV for years, mentioned it felt “surreal” to expertise it sitting at Kartavya Path for the primary time.
The Indian Navy tableau rolls down the Kartavya Path in the course of the 74th Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi on Thursday.
| Photograph Credit score:
MOORTHY R.V.
“I’ve always wanted to experience this, there are so many memories attached to the Republic Day parade, my grandson was here and I wanted him to see our country’s cultural heritage,” he mentioned, including that he preferred the motor stunt through which a soldier rode a motorbike from an 18-feet ladder.
Air present hid in clouds
Despite the fact that the parade began at 10.30 a.m., individuals began coming in even earlier than the daylight as they needed to seize the perfect seats to catch the ceremony. One specific occasion they had been enthusiastic about was the fly previous by 45 Indian Air Pressure plane, one from the Indian Navy, and 4 helicopters from the Indian Military.
Nevertheless, the group was left disenchanted as they might not witness the varied manoeuvres within the sky above Kartavya Path by the likes of Rafale, Mig-29 and Su-30 MKI fighters.
A resident of Ghaziabad, Vibha, 36, was excited to see the Rafale fighter jets. “We’ve only heard about it in the news. My children were really excited about seeing the fighter jets, however due to the weather conditions we couldn’t,” she mentioned.
The Military Band marching in the course of the 74th Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi on Thursday.
| Photograph Credit score:
MOORTHY R.V.
Two college students of Rashtriya Army School in Dehradun, Teluri Srujan, 16, and Sunand Kumar, 17, each residents of Andhra Pradesh, who got here to see the parade, mentioned that the marching contingents had been the principle attraction for them.
“The display of the aircraft was what garnered most attention. Even though we could not see much, we were in high spirits,” Mr. Kumar mentioned.
Mr. Kumar additionally mentioned that he preferred the tableaux of Uttar Pradesh (Ayodhya Deepotsav) and Haryana (Worldwide Gita Mahotsav) as they “depicted India’s cultural history”.
Heavy safety deployment
In view of “security threats,” greater than 7,000 police personnel and paramilitary forces together with Delhi Police, Central Reserve Police Pressure (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Nationwide Safety Guards (NSG), and Army Police had been deployed at numerous factors.
Particular Safety Group (SPG) commandoes, chargeable for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s safety, had been additionally protecting a vigil throughout the venue. Snipers had been additionally stationed at numerous momentary management centres on the venue.
The Arunachal Pradesh State tableau rolls down the Kartavya Path in the course of the 74th Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi on Thursday.
| Photograph Credit score:
MOORTHY R.V.
With a seven-layer safety cowl, thorough frisking was carried out at every level. Numerous frequent articles, together with pens, water bottles, umbrellas, and cash had been additionally a part of the banned-items checklist.
An officer stationed on the safety verify mentioned, “There has been no mishap, the situation is smooth, security is in place.”
“Around 150 CCTV cameras have also been installed in vital areas, with facial recognition facility, and police visibility has also been enhanced,” an officer added.
A complete of 24 assist desks had been stationed within the New Delhi district.
Entry was solely permitted primarily based on QR codes as all invites and passes had been moved on-line for the primary time. Seating capability was additionally decreased from greater than 1 lakh to about 45,000 this yr as a consequence of reorganisation of seating preparations and an enormous lower within the VIP invites.
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