VIJAYAWADA: Though the shifting of Republic Day celebrations from Visakhapatnam to Vijayawada has brought joy to denizens, artisans engaged in making tableaux have been hit. They have to remake tableaux well in time as several of them were damaged during transportation from Vizag to Vijayawada.
“We finished 80 per cent of the work of tableaux in Vizag and only finishing touches and trial run were left. The venue of Republic Day celebrations was suddenly changed on Tuesday evening from RK Beach in Vizag to Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium in Vijayawada. We were asked to shift the tableaux immediately,” said 60-year-old G Prasad, who was busy painting the animal sculptures to be used for the tableau of the Ministry of Forest and Environment.
“We have to make some tableaux from scratch as they were badly damaged during transportation due to bad roads. We also lost valuable time during transportation of tableaux by heavy vehicles, which consumed double the time to bring the nearly completed artworks,” said another artisan.
“Now, we have to work round-the-clock to complete the tableaux by Sunday. We have to forego rest and sleep to meet the deadline,” said 54-year-old artisan Samba Murthy, who has been in the field for more than three decades.
“Though we are committed to meeting the deadline by working extra time, our dedication and hard work is not getting due recognition. Sometimes we do not get remuneration for working overtime. We need a little encouragement which enables us to work with more dedication,” said the artisans in unison.
DGP inspects Republic Day arrangements
Vijayawada: Director General of Police D Gautam Sawang inspected the arrangements for the Republic Day parade at Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium in the city on Friday. Addressing media persons, the DGP said Telangana police will also take part in the Republic Day parade for the first time. The tableau on the Disha Act will be a major attraction at the parade this year, the DGP said.
Meanwhile, security at all airports in the State has been beefed up to thwart any untoward incident.