Thousands of people had turned up at the Sardar Patel stadium to witness the main event of Swarnim Gujarat celebrations this evening.
Extreme chaos marred Swarnim Gujarat celebrations organised at the Sardar Patel Stadium in the city on Saturday evening, to mark completion of 50 years of Gujarat's statehood. CMs of various states, ministers, present and former MPs, MLAs, judges, top bureaucrats, police officials and media persons had to bear the brunt of mismanagement.
Thousands of people had turned up at the Sardar Patel stadium to witness the main event of Swarnim Gujarat celebrations this evening. The programme was slated to begin at 7.30 pm, but the stadium was packed by 5.30 pm, resulting in thousands of people being denied entry into the stadium after that.
Even VVIPs like Punjab's deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, Bihar's deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, Karnataka CM Yedurappa, among others, had difficulty in gaining entry into the venue. No one was present to receive or welcome them for very long. Many media persons were also not allowed into the stadium, while police personnel misbehaved with some of them.
Some of the ministers like Jaynarayana Vyas, Purushottam Solanki etc., missed the function due to heavy traffic.
"I came here to hear chief minister Narendra Modi and witness the Swarnim Gujarat celebrations. I am disappointed that I was not allowed entry into the stadium," Ankit Patel, a businessman from Surat, said.
Top government officials and their families, including S Jagadeesan, were pushed and jostled by on-duty personnel. Thousands of people who had come to witness the gala extravaganza were disappointed, as they were not allowed into the stadium. They tore off their invitation cards and also damaged cut outs placed at the stadium gates to vent their anger. Police had to use mild force to disperse the crowd.
The situation, however, eased around 7.30 pm, when people started leaving after organisers announced that the function would be repeated at the same venue on Sunday evening.
According to officials, the total seating capacity of the Sardar Patel stadium is around 35,000. However, the number of invitation cards sent out was many times higher. The CM also made an apology for the mismanagement and inconvenience caused to the invitees. Modi also asked people who had witnessed the cultural programme today, to keep away from it on Sunday.
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