Republic Day celebrations to be held in subdued manner

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 24

In view of the unprecedented health crisis, the Republic Day celebrations would be held in a subdued manner.

The cultural programmes and PT shows, which were earlier organised by schoolchildren, would not be part of the celebrations this year. Only tableau by several government departments would be displayed during the function, which would be held at Guru Nanak Stadium here.

In a first, the Health Department would present a tableau on the novel coronavirus and how health officials worked as frontline warriors during their 10-month-long fight against the virus that claimed hundreds and thousands of lives globally.

“The tableau would be based on the theme of coronavirus as how the department has stood against the pandemic during these testing times and what has changed after the arrival of the vaccine,” said Civil Surgeon Dr Charanjit Singh. He said all the preparations were complete and the main motive behind the tableau is to motivate the people for vaccination.

Meanwhile, full dress rehearsals for the 72nd Republic Day celebrations were conducted at Guru Nanak Dev stadium here on Sunday. Deputy Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khaira took salute of the march past parade and unfurled the national flag. Manpreet Kaur Shimar, Assistant Commissioner of Police, led the march past. Police Commissioner Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill, Additional Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal and other officials were present on the occasion.

Khaira, who also passed instructions to different officials present there, informed that Sports and Youth Affairs and NRI Affairs Minister Rana Gurmit Sodhi would be the chief guest on the occasion on January 26. He would unfurl the national flag at 10am. He said like in the past, the PT show and cultural tableau and programmes would not be part of the Republic Day celebrations this year.