KOLKATA: Five mega hangars, each covering around a lakh square feet — nearly the size of two football grounds — are being mooted to protect attendees from the searing April heat at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inaugural Lok Sabha poll rally in the Maidan a week later. He is set to address two more rallies in Kolkata. During the last Lok Sabha election, Modi — then a PM aspirant — had addressed three rallies in Kolkata as well.The man entrusted to take up part of the herculean task at Maidan is none other than Rajiv Kumar Singh — the decorator who had constructed the marquee at the Midnapore rally of Modi last year. The decorator, who was at the eye of a storm after the marquee came down during the rally at Midnapore town last July, was also part of the team that had set up the dais at Contai for BJP president Amit Shah’s rally. “I am told that I will be given a part of the job. Contracts are yet to be allocated, but I was given the work earlier too,” Singh said.Singh’s J N Decorators was given the job to set up hangars, each measuring about 12,000 square feet, when Modi had addressed a BJP rally in Midnapore last year. One of them, weakened by soft soil due to incessant rain, had caved in when some attendees climbed up its scaffolding to get a better view of the PM. The incident, in which around 90 people were injured, led to cops slapping cases against Singh.“People attending the rally will have to brave scorching heat. Hangars have been proposed by some leaders who wanted to ensure comfort for the attendees,” said a BJP leader. “But we will also have to keep in mind chances of nor’wester which is quite common in Bengal in this season,” the leader added. “The scaffolding, made of aluminium bars, might not be able to withstand high winds at the Maidan,” said another leader.The party is also cautious about the drinking water supply — a problem that the attendees had faced during Modi’s rally at Thakurnagar. The party leaders have planned to arrange for at least 15 lakh water pouches for the people apart from hundreds of small kiosks distributing water. “We are expecting a turnout in the excess of five lakh. While some of them will reach Kolkata a day before, most of them will arrive on April 3,” said a BJP leader. The party on Tuesday submitted separate letters with the chief electoral officer in West Bengal, seeking permission for the rallies at Brigade and Siliguri.

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