Yoga mats from China? Organiser says he doesn't know

Amid reports that many of the mats to be used for Sunday's mega International Yoga Day event at Rajpath were sourced from China, the private company tasked by the government to arrange for the mats clarified that it purchased the rubber mats from various agencies within India.

"I have collected the mats from various sources in India," Dilpreet Oberoi of Arch Concept, the company given the contract to arrange for the carpets, told IANS.

But he added that he was unaware from where the Indian agencies purchased the mats.

"I don't know whether they made the rubber mats themselves or imported them from some other country," Oberoi said.

Asked whether the mats were made in China, Oberoi said he had no information about their origin.

"I showed my samples to the authorities concerned. As I got the contract to arrange them for the yoga event, I collected them from all possible sources in the country keeping in mind the quality required," he said.

Asked when he was given the contract, Oberoi said: "I got the contract on May 22 to arrange for 37,000 mats for the International Day of Yoga."

The mats were placed at the Rajpath venue in the past two days, he said.