Ramdev: Special offer

Ranchi, Feb. 10: Except for a few VIPs like the governors and chief ministers, free entry into the morning sessions of the yoga camps held by Baba Ramdev are next to impossible.

Not until the yoga guru decides to change the rules and generously extend invitations to the underprivileged of the Ranchi.

The popular TV guru is known to reserve one day for free sessions with the poor, handicapped and school students, but this is the first time that he has decided to allow free entry into the morning show and, that too, from February 19 to 25.

Another special gesture made by Ramdev is his separate free camp for schoolteachers as well.

For the teachers and students, the Baba will hold special sessions on February 22 and 23, respectively, at the Morabadi grounds between 5 and 7 pm. He will also conduct a training programme for yoga teachers on February 20 noon on the IICM premises.

?In a generous offer, the Baba has directed the Ranchi district administration to visit slums and motivate the people there to attend his week-long camp in the morning. For this purpose, he has converted 2,000 entry tickets of Rs 250 denominations to complimentary passes,? Ranchi deputy commissioner Pradeep Kumar said.

The proposal is said to have been made when the officials of the Ranchi district administration visited Patanjali Yogpeeth, Ramdev?s trust in Hardwar.

The district administration will hold a meeting tomorrow to finalise the nitty gritty of selecting the people and their sitting arrangements.

Sources said the officials were also trying to workout a plan to ensure that unscrupulous elements did not sell the complimentary passes.

Ramdev is also likely to sign an MoU with the state government to establish a centre in Ranchi for production and marketing of herbal medicines and training of yoga.

The preparations for the camp are on in full swing with chief minister Arjun Munda today holding a review meet along with senior civil and police administration officials, including the chief secretary and the director-general of police.

Munda has directed officials to ensure that the crowd gathering at the Morabadi grounds do not face any problem and get uninterrupted water and power supply. The chief minister has also instructed the human resources development department to make yoga compulsory in schools for students of Class VI and above.

Ramdev is supposed to take an Air Deccan flight from Calcutta to the capital on February 18 and address a press conference the same day.

He would return on the concluding day of the camp.