Claims of the administration and police on successful hosting of the Khali show evaporated in thin air as chaos and mismanagement ruled the roost during the show. People faced horrendous times while reaching the venue and after the show due to traffic mismanagement.
The VIPs which included state Chief Minister Harish Rawat, Cabinet Ministers Dinesh Agarwal and Pritam Singh, PCC chief Kishore Upadhyay, CM's advisor Ranjit Rawat, MlAs Hira Singh Bisht, Umesh Sharma Kau, Pranav Singh Champion, Bollywood actor Shreyas Talapade and others made things more difficult for the police.
It was expected that the glamour of wrestlers and media hype would attract good number of spectators but more than the expected number of people arrived messing up the administration's planning for the event. The road leading to the stadium narrows down considerably when it reaches the Raipur market- where vehicles were stuck bumper to bumper on this stretch of road before and after the event. A local shopkeeper pointed out that the police should have strictly enforced one way traffic on the Raipur road and should have diverted traffic to ring road. The parking plan of the organizers too was responsible for the traffic snarls. “The police prevented vehicles from entering the sports college campus forcing people to park their vehicles on the roadside which created avoidable bottlenecks. The sports college campus is sprawling and it has enough space for all the vehicles.
Ironically the state government had termed this event as one showcasing the main venue of the National Games scheduled for 2018. Observers were of the view that the police and administration should have a serious relook on their traffic management plan for the national games and the Khali’s show should be an eye opener for them.