It’s official, PM’s yoga show cost Rs 6.5 cr

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 16

It’s official. The 45-minute yoga show to mark the second International Day of Yoga in Chandigarh on June 21 cost a whopping Rs 6.5 crore.

The Centre had already released a sum of Rs 5 crore while the remaining Rs 1.5 crore had to be borne by the UT Administration through various means, a senior UT officer told The Tribune here today.

Of its share of Rs 1.5 crore, the Chandigarh Administration managed to get Rs 1 crore from various organisations/companies under the Corporate Social Responsibility fund, the officer disclosed.

While a sum of Rs 1.5 crore was spent on the promotion campaign through the print and electronic media, the main event in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed yoga with over 30,000 enthusiasts at the sprawling Capitol Complex had cost Rs 3.5 crore.

“We have made almost all payments while the few remaining, mostly pertaining to advertisements, are being cleared,” the officer revealed.

In Chandigarh, a Delhi-based private firm had provided the massive logistic support for the mega show at the Capitol Complex.

The agency had made the lowest bid of Rs 2.89 crore for making the arrangements, right from erecting the mega stage spanning over 3,600 sq ft area to arranging 30 other items in bulk supply required for the second-of-its-type high-profile event.

Besides a waterproof stage spanning over 3,600 sq ft, security screen cloth of 20 to 25 ft height covering 50,000 sq ft, 40 digital  projection LED screens of 8 inches x 12 inches, a separate stage of over 1,000 sq ft for media and performers, 30,000 yoga mats, new soft carpet for over 10 lakh sq ft area, 300 pre-fabricated bio-toilets, 2,000 kVA capacity gensets, 1.25 lakh drinking water bottles of 500 ml each, 50 fire extinguishers, 200 CCTV cameras, 30 monitoring screens of 24 inches each, 500 chairs for VVIP guests and 300 dustbins were among the logistic support provided at the venue, which was divided into eight sectors. The private agency had also designed, installed and operationalised the sprawling venue spread over 12 lakh sq ft.