Preparations in full swing for Mamata’s swearing-in ceremony

The work to prepare the stage for Friday’s swearing-in ceremony on Red Road has been started in war footing early on Tuesday morning. This is the second time in the state’s history when the swearing-in ceremony will be held outside Raj Bhavan. 

The reason being Mamata Banerjee want to take the oath in front of people those have brought her party back to power with an overwhelming majority.  Once during the tenure of Bidhan Chandra Roy, the swearing-in ceremony had taken place in Darjeeling.

According to the sources in Nabanna, there will be three stages on one side of Red Road. The ministers will take oath on the main and central stage. One of the two other stages will be kept reserved for the VVIPs and ministers will be there in another one. They will come to the main stage one by one to take oath.

There will be around 1,000 guests and there will be space to accommodate common people as well. There will be around 20,000 sitting arrangements.  Banerjee will go to Nabanna after the swearing-in ceremony where she will be given the guard of honour by the police. It is learnt that Banerjee will hold the first meeting of the second tenure of her government at 4 pm on May 27.  The work started on Monday night under the supervision of the state government officials. 

Everyone was found working in a war footing to assure that all sort of preparation is complete within the stipulated time as heavy rainfall may hamper the work in between. Precautions were taken so that heavy shower couldn’t affect the progress of the work. 

Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and senior officers of the Kolkata Police went to the venue on Tuesday to inspect the work progress. 

Movement of traffic on Red Road was restricted from Monday morning to make the place ready for the swearing-in ceremony. The city traffic police have taken all necessary measures to avoid any traffic congestion as the Red Road will remain closed till the ceremony is over.  

All south bound vehicles were diverted through Mayo Road and King’s Way while the north bound ones were diverted through Dufferin Road and Outram Road. Steps were also been taken to ensure that no untoward incident take place during the swearing-in ceremony. 

The city police’s bomb and dog squad had started the frisking operation in and around Red Road. Policemen in plain clothes have already been posted.