The Centre has decided to curtail the number of people attending the Republic Day parade on Rajpath this year by 70-80 per cent in the wake of a rapid rise in Covid-19 cases, sources in the defence ministry said on Tuesday.

Approximately 5,000-8,000 people will be allowed to physically attend the celebrations, a ministry official said.

Last year, around 25,000 people were allowed to attend the parade in view of the pandemic, which was a drastic reduction from the nearly 1.25 lakh people who used to attend the event every year.

“Considering the surge in Covid cases in Delhi, a decision has been taken to curtail the number of visitors significantly this time. Last year, we had around 25,000 visitors during the pandemic. This year, we have decided to restrict the numbers of visitors further,” the ministry official said.

He said strict Covid protocols would be put in place and wearing of masks would be mandatory. Thermal screening of all the attendees will be done during the entry and their double vaccination certificates checked. A distance of six feet will have to be maintained among the attendees during entry and exit and also when they are seated. Several large LED screens will also be put up on Rajpath to show the live event.

Assam Rifles soldiers march during the rehearsal for the upcoming Republic Day parade in New Delhi on Tuesday. PTI Photo

This year, the official said, special arrangements are being made for those who normally don’t get the opportunity to attend the parade. Some seats will be earmarked for auto-rickshaw drivers, frontline health workers, sanitation and construction workers.

“Republic Day celebration week will be held from now every year from January 23-30 starting with Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary,” the ministry official said.

Amid the ongoing political row over the exclusion of tableaux from three Opposition states — Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu — sources in the defence ministry said tableaux from 12 states and Union territories had been selected this year. They are Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Punjab and Uttarakhand.

Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are poll-bound states.

The government has also selected nine tableaux of central ministries such as civil aviation, ministry of education and skill development and entrepreneurship, department of post in the ministry of communication, ministry of housing and urban affairs, home ministry, ministry of textiles, department of justice from the ministry of law and justice, ministry of Jal Shakti and ministry of culture.

A defence ministry official said the foreign ministry would take the decision on whether any foreign dignitaries would be invited as chief guest for the parade.

The area around Rajpath has been fortified with multi-layer security arrangement. A large number of CCTV cameras with facial recognition system have been installed.

Tableau row

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday wrote to Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her Tamil Nadu counterpart M.K. Stalin over the exclusion of their states’ tableaux from the Republic Day parade. He wrote to both of them that tableaus of the two states had been selected in previous years. Government sources have denied bias in the decision to exclude the two floats.

In his letter to Stalin, the defence minister wrote: “This (is) also to bring to you kind information that during the last few years tableau from state of Tamil Nadu has been selected for participation in R-Day during 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

“The tableau from Tamil Nadu was considered in the first three rounds of meetings. After the third round of meeting, the tableau could not make it to the final list of 12 tableaux selected for participation in the Republic Day parade,” he wrote, adding that a total of 29 proposals were received from states/UTs.

In his letter to Mamata, Singh wrote: “West Bengal’s tableau has been selected for participation in R-Day during 206, 2017, 2019 and 2021.”

Government sources have denied charges of bias towards floats from the Opposition-ruled states, saying the proposals of Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala were rejected by the selection committee after due process and deliberations.

In a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, Bengal chief minister Mamata had said she was “shocked and hurt” over the Centre’s decision to “abruptly exclude” the proposed Bengal tableau in commemoration of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army on his 125th birth anniversary.

Next day, Stalin expressed his disappointment over the exclusion the state’s tableau depicting V.O. Chidambaranar, Mahakavi Bharathiyar, Rani Velu Nachiyar and Maruthu Brothers — the renowned freedom fighters from Tamil Nadu.

Kerala government had also protested the exclusion of its tableau depicting social reformer Sree Narayana Guru.

“We have politely responded to states who have protested against the exclusion of their tableaux. There will be no revision of the decisions,” a defence ministry official said.