5-hour extravaganza with performances by top artistes on cards 5,000 school students to witness ceremony
PANAJI
After nearly a decade of dilly-dallying and false-starts prompted by inadequate sports infrastructure, Goa is finally set to achieve its goal of hosting India’s premier sporting event – the National Games – with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to arrive here on Thursday evening to inaugurate its 37th edition at the decked up Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at Fatorda-Margao.
Slated to witness over 10,000 best Indian athletes compete for honours and records in 42 sports disciplines (volleyball and beach volleyball have been dropped), the Games will be a feast for those with a sporting bone, both Goans and tourists alike, over the next two weeks.
The closing ceremony will be held on November 26.
As announced by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday, the opening ceremony will be a five-hour extravaganza with performances by top artistes including Sukhvinder Singh and Goa’s own Hema Sardesai.
Goa-born professional windsurfer Katya Ida Coelho has been picked to hand over the torch to the Prime Minister to inaugurate the Games.
The ceremony which will be witnessed from the stands by nearly 5,000 school students among an expected crowd of 12,000, will also feature a performance by 600 artistes on the ‘National Integration’ apart from the customary march past parade by the athletes of competing State and Union Territory contingents.
The Prime Minister meanwhile, is slated to arrive in Goa from Shirdi in Maharashtra. He will then travel by road from the Dabolim defence enclave to the venue at Fatorda-Margao.
The road between will be out of bounds for traffic in the four hours between 5 pm and 9 pm but Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Akshat Kaushal, IPS, was at pains to allay fears that commuters to the airport from both South and North Goa will be inconvenienced.
“Alternate roads and routes have been designated to avoid inconvenience to commuters,” he said, adding that nearly 800 traffic police personnel will be deployed.
Kaushal also said, that the roads will be blocked for a maximum of half-an-hour during arrival and departure of the Prime Minister and the movement of other VVIPs.
Govt offices shut from 1 pm in South Goa
The State government has declared a half-day holiday on Thursday and all public offices will be shut from 1 pm onwards in South Goa.
The decision has been taken to ‘avoid traffic congestion’, a press release by the General Administration Department (GAD) said.
“On the occasion of opening ceremony of 37th National Games in Goa at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, South Goa, in the presence of VVIPs, the government is pleased to order that all Government Offices will remain closed from 1 pm onwards on 26 October, 2023, in order to avoid traffic congestion in Margao,” the notice released by the GAD said.
