Bhubaneswar: The Mahatma Gandhi Marg in the capital city was taken over by armed and police contingents as they hit the road for 'full dress rehearsal' on Sunday morning ahead of the state-level Republic Day celebrations on January 26.
As per reports, four bands and 14 contingents--two from central government agencies and rest 12 from Odisha police and state fire services department-- participated in the rehearsal. IPS officer S Sushree, who has been engaged as the parade commander, also attended the full dress rehearsal parade.
However, there will be no large gathering and participation of general public or school students in the event this year in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The State government has also prohibited any cultural programme or display of tableaus at the state as well as district-level celebrations.
As many as 25 platoons of police force will be deployed during the Republic Day celebrations in Bhubaneswar. The entire area will be under CCTV surveillance and a control room will also be set up near the parade area to ensure smooth conduct of the celebrations.
"School and college students will not participate in the parade this year in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19 infection. State-level security arrangement has been done. The armed arrangements have been done by the DCP and Twin City Commissioner of Police while other security arrangements are being supervised by Director of Intelligence," informed the State Police DG Abhay who reviewed the full dress rehearsal parade in the capital city.
Twin City Commissioner of Police Sudhansu Sarangi and Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Das also attended the event.
Governor Ganeshi Lal is scheduled to hoist the National Flag at Mahatma Gandhi Marg here while Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is likely to attend the state-level celebrations as the guest of honour.
Let's take a look at the full dress rehearsal held in Bhubaneswar:
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