The Ramlila ground is all set to host the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister-designate, Aam Aadmi Party’s convener Arvind Kejriwal, on Saturday. This is the first time that an oath-taking ceremony is being held at a public venue. The Delhi Police and the Delhi administration have taken control of the historic ground to ensure that all goes well during the swearing-in ceremony of the Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers. A large number of AAP supporters as well as general public are expected to throng the ground to be part of the momentous occasion. Meanwhile, Chief Secretary DM Spolia visited the Ramlila ground with his team of officials to oversee the arrangements for the ceremony.
Elaborate arrangements have been made at the ground. The day would be historic in its own way as Kejriwal will be breaking the general tradition of oath-taking ceremonies, which are usually held at the Raj Niwas. Preparations by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, Public Works Department (PWD) and other agencies are complete and the stage is all set to welcome the new Chief Minister. Seating arrangements for 30,000 people have been made and 15 enclosures for VIPs have been constructed.
The ground has a capacity to accommodate one lakh people and apart from seating area, there would be some areas designated for people to stand.
Considering the weather conditions in the Capital on Friday, the stage will have water proof tents above it. The Delhi Police is in no mood to take risk and has been guarding the area round the clock. Central Paramilitary forces and the Delhi Police have been deployed to avoid any untoward incident. Over a thousand Delhi Police officials, 500 paramilitary personnel and around 400 traffic police officials will be deployed at the Ramlila ground on Saturday. Kejriwal will travel from Kaushambi Metro Station till Barakhamba Metro Station and will be brought under security cover by the Delhi Police. Central Industrial Security Forces will make all necessary arrangements to contain the ground. The dog squad and contingency plan will be in place as per the normal functioning. The ground will be under surveillance with more than 30 CCTV cameras installed at the venue. Quick Reaction Team, CATS ambulance, dog squad and bomb squad will also be positioned at the venue. Two officials of the paramilitary forces will be deployed around the ground at a distance of 100 metres. The roads leading to the ground will be blocked on Saturday morning and parking facility for commuters will be available behind the Minto Road complex, Rajghat and near Mata Sundari College.
Senior Police Officials, including Special Commissioner (law and Order) Deepak Mishra, Joint commissioner (Central range) Sandeep Goel, DCP (central) Alok Kumar — along with a team of officials — had inspected the venue on Monday to determine the kind of security apparatus needed to be put in place for the oath-taking ceremony.
A meeting was also chaired by the Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi and other senior officials where security arrangements for the swearing in ceremony were chalked out.