The Hindu : New Delhi News : Little Nano attracts big Sunday crowd

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Monday, Jan 14, 2008
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New Delhi

Little Nano attracts big Sunday crowd

Staff Reporter

Photo: S. Subramanium

STAR ATTARACTION: The large Sunday crowd at the 9th Auto Expo in New Delhi on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: A massive turnout marked the fourth day of the Auto-Expo at Pragati Maidan here on Sunday, with most people making a beeline to catch a glimpse of the brand new “one-lakh” car from the Tata stable.

The state of affairs outside Pragati Maidan was also testimony to the spilling crowds within the gates. The approach roads to the venue were jammed not just with vehicles but also with hundreds of pedestrians making their way to the expo. The affected roads included Tilak Marg, Ring Road and Bhairon Marg. A religious function organised at Bhairon temple in the vicinity only compounded matters throwing traffic into another mess.

The unprecedented crowd compelled security personnel to temporarily bar entry to the expo premises from around 3 p.m. onwards. However, the sizable crowd on Saturday had prepared the organisers for an even larger turnout on Sunday and various measures had been put in place to tackle the increased number of footfalls.

According to a representative of one of the organising companies Siddharth Upadhayay, the total security deployment was almost doubled for Sunday, as were the number of exits. “Though we wanted sufficient security arrangements, the idea was to not scare away the casual visitor by having a disproportionately large number of cops at the venue,” he said.

The organisers also increased the display height of the “Nano” to render it viewable to a greater number of people from afar. Policemen were also instructed to guide people to the relevant stalls and signboards providing directions were put up at regular intervals. Going by ticket sales, the organisers staked the official turnout at 1.3 lakh.

Despite the “Nano” still being the centre of attraction, a Yamaha-sponsored rock show proved a sure-fire hit with the young. Bands “Parikrama” and “Frequency” thumped out anthems at a frenzied crowd, with state-of-the-art motorcycles gracing the backdrop. The rock show and motorcycles apart, other pavilions that saw the maximum visitors were the ones displaying “approachable items”. Voicing the thoughts of several others, a visitor said: “Not many can afford to cough up a crore or so for an automobile. The cars in the 5-10 lakh bracket are the ones I am really interested in. Even the robotics display is a treat to watch.”

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