Rs 3 cr spent on Bhagwant Mann's 17-minute swearing-in ceremony at Khatkar Kalan

Deepkamal Kaur

Khatkar Kalan, March 16

The swearing-in ceremony at Khatkar Kalan village that cost the exchequer over Rs 3 crore concluded in just 17 minutes. While the formal oath ceremony got over in just five minutes, the remaining time included signing of official papers and a 10-minute speech delivered by Bhagwant Mann.

The event which was to start at 12:10 pm took off around 1:21 pm as AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal got late. Governor Banwarilal Purohit had reached the venue at 11:50 am and was to return to Raj Bhawan at 1:10 pm.

222 PRTC buses put on job

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Patiala: As many 222 PRTC buses were used to ferry AAP supporters for the swearing-in event. On Sunday, 443 buses had been roped in for AAP’s roadshow in Amritsar. PRTC MD Parneet Shergill said: “So far, no payment has been made by the government.” TNS

The national anthem started at 1:23 pm and the oath ceremony got over by 1:28 pm. Soon after, Mann started his speech and everything was over by 1:38 pm. Almost the entire bureaucracy and senior police officials had been visiting the venue daily to take stock of the arrangements.

It was for the fourth time that oath-taking was held outside Raj Bhawan. The trend was started by the SAD in 2007 when the oath-taking event was held at a cricket stadium in Mohali. In 2009, Sukhbir Badal’s oath-taking ceremony as a deputy CM was held at Ranjit Avenue in Amritsar wherein the state government spent Rs 60 lakh. On 2012, the SAD had organised the oath-taking ceremony under Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at Chappar Chiri in Mohali.