Alappuzha: The stage is set for the 65th edition of the Nehru Trophy Boat Race (NTBR) at the Punnamada lake here which will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The event will be attended by Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, state ministers T.M. Thomas Isaac, G. Sudhakaran, P. Thilothaman, Kadakampally Surendran, Thomas Chandy, E. Chandrasekharan and Mathew T. Thomas. Last year’s winner Karichal chundan, which has hit the bull’s eye 15 times, will be trying hard to retain the trophy against strong contenders, including Payipaadan chundan, Vellamkulangara, Gabriel chundan, Nadubhagom chundan, Jawahar, Anari, Cheruthana, Devas, Mahadevan and Sree Ganesh and Karuvatta.
The galleries and pavilions with a capacity to accommodate about one lakh viewers have been erected. The Nehru pavilion is reserved for VVIPs. State-of- the-art starting system and a digital platform to count the time of boats have been installed at the finishing point. The public can view the finishing time through the digital display. Doordarshan will telecast the race live and AIR will give a running commentary.
Webcasting will also be done Through http://webcast.gov.in/nehrutrophy Around 2,000 police personnel will be deployed with 20 DySPs, 33 circle inspectors and 353 sub- inspectors in the town and Punnamada. The police will be present in the lake in 40 boats. CCTV cameras have been set up in all parts of the city and shadow police will be deployed to prevent illicit activities.
