Stadium gets ready for 'Pranabda's homecoming'

Ranchi: The Mega Sports Complex is getting ready to welcome President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday. Mukherjee will attend the 88th edition of the All India Bengali Literary Conference.
"Pranabda was the president of our association for 12 years. He gave up his chair after becoming the President (of India). In a way, it is a homecoming for him," Rathin Chatterjee, office bearer of Nikhil Bharat Bangiya Sahitya Sabha, the organizing body, said on Friday."Though the conference was held three times in Jharkhand (Chaibasa, Jamshedpur and Koderma) before, this is certainly special because he is coming," he added.
Last minute preparations are on at the 250-acre stadium. The Harivansh Tana Bhagat Indoor Stadium, the venue for the conference, is also getting a facelift.
The annual conference, which was inaugurated by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1936, will have seminars on Bengali language and culture. As many as 1,500 delegates from 125 branches of the organization have begun arriving for the three-day conference. Volunteers have been posted at Ranchi and Hatia railway stations and in the airport for welcoming delegates and guest speakers. Local clubs and Bengali associations have joined forces.
Even the NH-33, which leads up to the sports complex, is being repaired for the high-profile visit. The last moment effort is creating traffic snarls that are ranging anywhere between 15-30 minutes. "Ambulances heading towards Ranchi are becoming stranded for long durations. The lives of patients are at risk," Subodh Verma, owner of a tea stall at BIT Chowk said.
The stadium complex is witnessing trimming of the hedges and cleaning of unwanted foliage. The indoor stadium is wearing fresh coat of paint. Inside, the stage is being erected for the inauguration ceremony, which where Mukerjee will be present.