Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Jalandhar today for inauguration of games; roads around venue closed

Aparna Banerji

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Jalandhar, August 28

All routes around Guru Gobind Singh Stadium in Jalandhar have been diverted in view of the opening ceremony of the ‘Khedan Watan Punjab Diyan’ in Jalandhar on Monday. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will be in the city for the inaugural ceremony of the games at the stadium.

The stretch around the stadium is one of the busiest roads of the city and acts as the central point and approach to certain key areas like Model Town, Main Road, Bus Stand, Apeejay College, etc. The passage of all traffic and vehicles on the stretch will be closed from 12 pm to 10 pm tomorrow.

Commissioner of Police, Jalandhar, Gursharan Singh Sandhu said all arragements had been made for the mega event where 10,000 spectators are being expected.

Meanwhile, the stage is set for the mega sporting event at the stadium tomorrow, which will also witness a special baton march by Olympians. As many as 16 Olympians and Arjuna awardees will participate in the mashal march to be held at the event tomorrow. A special stage has also been set up for sports luminaries at the event tomorrow. Players participating in the ceremony include Bakjit Singh Dhillon, Simranjit Singh Kaur Chakkar, Rajinder Singh Rahelu, Manjit Kaur, Vikas Thakur, Gurjit Kaur, Damneet Singh Mann, Swarn Singh Virk, Sukhpal Singh Pali, Harpreet Singh Happy, Suman Sharma, Pranav Chopra and Gurpreet Singh, among others.

Two-month long games will be played across 11 blocks.

The block-level competitions of the games will be held across 11 Jalandhar blocks — Rurka Kalan, Adampur, Mehatpur, Phillaur, Bhogpur, Lohian, Nakodar, Jalandhar East, Shahkot, Jalandhar West and Nurmahal, where competitions of different sports, including kho-kho, football, athletics, volleyball, kabaddi and tug-of-war would be held.

As per the schedule, the tournaments will be held from September 1 to 7 with volleyball, athletics, football, kabaddi, kho-kho and tug-of-war, while district-level tournaments will take place from September 12 to 22 with athletics, football, kabaddi, kho-kho, volleyball, handball, softball, judo, roller skating, gatka, kick boxing, hockey, netball, badminton, basketball, power lifting, lawn tennis, wrestling, swimming, boxing, table tennis and weightlifting. Similarly, the state-level tournaments will start from October 10 and include all district-level games.

Traffic Advisory for commuters

• The passage of all traffic and vehicles on the stretch around the stadium, which is one of the busiest and acts as the central point and approach to certain key areas like Model Town, Main Road, Bus Stand, Apeejay College, etc., will remain closed from 12 noon to 10 pm on Monday
• Commuters are advised to follow the designated routes to avoid any trouble. The stretch from Apeejay College to City Hospital and Geeta Mandir will be closed for general public; and the traffic will be diverted from Apeejay College to BMC Chowk and Samra Chowk side.
• Similarly, traffic won’t be allowed on the stretch leading from Milk Bar Chowk side to Guru Naanal Mission Chowk, commuters will be routed to Skylark Chowk to Namdev Chowk side or Skylark Chowk to Jyoti Chowk side
• The traffic from City Hospital Chowk to Milk Bar Chowk will also stay closed and the route shall be diverted to Milk Bar Chowk to Dera Sat Kartar-Masand Chowk and further to Geeta Mandir side