Make in India: 1,500 workers and a week to clear the junk

They'll be dismantling 27 pavilions spread over 2,30,000 sq mt of land owned by MMRDA

Hours after the extravagant Make In India Week concluded on February 18 at the sprawling MMRDA grounds at Bandra-Kurla Complex, about 1,500 workers mobilised from across the country launched the dismantling of 27 pavilions that they constructed. The Make In India logo Lions, displayed prominently at the entrance and the auspicious Laman Diva, are also being removed from the event venue.

The Make In India Week venue was spread over a record 2,30,000 sq mt of land owned by the Maharashtra state undertaking, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). Workers, who had been slogging for the past three months, were now busy to remove pavilions, stalls and the open theatre at the venue.

"Its time to pack up," says 35-year-old Meherish, who had come back on Thursday from Uttar Pradesh, for the dismantling job. "We worked literally 24x7 to create a world-class facility. Workers had come here from different states but they worked as a team."

Another worker, Shiva, who hails from Bihar, recalls it was really a huge task but completed in a record time.

B K Sharma, a contractor from Jharkhand, said it will take at a least a week to clear everything at the venue. "Transportation of stall equipment began on Thursday evening and it will be hopefully completed by February 25," he said.

As regards the various products and equipment displayed by companies such as HAL, JCB outside the pavilions, some of them, including defence helicopters, missiles have already been loaded on containers and trucks.

JCB, which had dislpayed compact truck loaders, backhoe loaders, hydraulic excavators and defence products, was in the middle of unbundling and loading with the help of high-powered cranes on trucks.

Similarly, pavilions of as many as 17 states, including Maharashtra, were almost dismantled as the display material was already removed from the venue.

The area continues to be cordoned off. Security personnel said that roads will be opened only after the venue is cleared. Thereafter, the tar roads that were specially made for the event will be cleared, after which the open space will be given back to MMRDA.