PM Modi to join massive International Yoga Day event in Andhra on June 21

Chief Minister Naidu has said the event, scheduled from 6:30 am to 8:00 am, will be organised in such a way to get recognition and set records, including a Guinness World Record

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in a massive International Yoga Day organised by Andhra Pradesh, on Saturday, in a 26-km-long corridor from RK Beach in the port city of Visakhapatnam that stretches up to Bhogapuram, where over 300,000 people can perform Yoga simultaneously.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has said the event, scheduled from 6:30 am to 8:00 am, will be organised in such a way to get recognition and set records, including a Guinness World Record.

The Andhra Pradesh government is aiming to set a string of records in Yoga by mobilising several lakh people, not just in Visakhapatnam but by organising simultaneous activities across the state on June 21.

The 11th International Yoga Day, celebrated by several countries across the world, has been themed as 'Yoga for One Earth, One Health'.

"As many as 25,000 tribal students will perform Surya Namaskars for 108 minutes. The objective is to set records for the largest group and the most people performing Surya Namaskars simultaneously," said Naidu.

The government is aiming to organise yoga sessions in 100,000 centres across the state and attract 500,000 people to participate in yoga activities in Visakhapatnam.

Observing that elaborate arrangements have been made across a 26-km stretch from RK Beach in Vizag to Bhogapuram, the CM said 319,000 people can perform yoga simultaneously from RK Beach.

Participants from 800,000 locations across the state, country, and the world are expected to join, he said, adding that the estimated two-crore registrations for yoga day activities participation overshot to 2.39 crores.

In the run-up to the yoga day, the southern state embarked on 'Yogandhra', a month-long campaign to create awareness about yoga with several activities linked to the ancient practice originating from India.

As part of 'Yogandhra', 15,000 yoga competitions were held from the village level to state level, 5,451 master trainers have contributed to this effort, and over one crore participants of various yoga programmes were certified, a government release said.

For the smooth conduct of this mega event, 326 compartments with a capacity of 1,000 people each have been readied, along with 332,000 t-shirts and 500,000 yoga mats.

Officials have identified and registered over 130,000 places across the state for yoga activities on June 21, while alternative arrangements have also been made for 30,000 people in Vizag.

Even though there is no rain forecast, CM instructed officials to be prepared with alternative arrangements.

Recently, the CM personally visited Visakhapatnam to take stock of the preparations. He called on everybody in the state to make Yoga Day a grand success.

Naidu called for proclaiming a declaration on Yoga Day to make yoga a part of everyday life.

Over 3,000 buses are expected to ferry yoga enthusiasts to the venue in Vizag, while the CM said all the participants should reach their respective places between 6 am and 6:30 am on yoga day.

Meanwhile, elaborate security arrangements are being made for the Visakhapatnam event.

"Over 1,200 CCTV cameras and drones will monitor the 26-kilometre stretch where thousands of people will perform yoga, with around 10,000 police personnel deployed for security duties," DGP Harish Kumar Gupta said earlier.

A high-tech police control room has been set up to oversee coordination and ensure foolproof security during the event, which will witness massive public participation.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other key ministers attending, standardised security protocols are being followed at every level, Gupta noted.