ALAPPUZHA: A record number of 78 boats will take part in the 65th edition of famous Nehru Trophy Boat Race (NTBR) at Punnamada Lake on Saturday. The race will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at 2 pm. Announcing the programme, district collector Veena N. Madhavan, said 78 boats have been registered under Chundan, Iruttukuthy, Veppu, Churulan, Thekkanodi and Thara categories. The heats of small boats will begin at 11 am. “Jammu & Kashmir finance minister Haseeb Drabu, state ministers T.M. Thomas Isaac, G. Sudhakaran, P. Thilothaman, Kadakampally Surendran, Thomas Chandy, E. Chandrasekhran and Mathew T. Thomas will be chief guests at the function,” said the Collector, who is also the chairperson of NTBR Society, the organising body of the event.
The NTBRS expects an income of Rs 3.18 crore from the event. The state government has allotted Rs 1 crore as grant and the balance amount is being collected through sponsorship and ticket sales. “There is no title sponsor, but we have managed the fund through other sources,” the collector said. Galleries and pavilions with a capacity of about 1 lakh are ready in Punnamada and Nehru Pavilion. Along with the live telecast on DD and live commentary on AIR, a webcasting will also be done through http://webcast.gov.in/nehrutrophy Around 2,000 police personnel will be deployed for the smooth conduct of the event, the collector saod. CCTV cameras have been set up across the city. Shadow police will also be deployed to prevent illicit activities.
