Pachpadra refinery: Massive preparation comes to naught after inauguration cancellation

JAISALMER: Extensive preparations were underway for nearly 10 days by the district administration, the state govt, and BJP for the inauguration of the Pachpadra refinery that was cancelled after a massive fire broke out damaging the core processing unit Monday.

Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma was personally monitoring the arrangements, while BJP state president Madan Rathore and minister KK Vishnoi had been stationed in Pachpadra for the past few days to oversee the preparations.

Arrangements were made for an estimated gathering of around 2.5 lakh people with hundreds of buses stationed in Pachpadra to bring supporters to the event. A large event venue with three grand domes was developed over 3 bigha land.

The whole event area was divided into 35 blocks, each having capacity to accommodate around 1,600 people. More than 1 lakh chairs were placed to ensure organized seating .To tackle the intense desert heat, which has been hovering around 42–43°C, a large number of generators and coolers were installed at the venue. Additionally, large LED screens and around 100 loudspeakers were set up to ensure make the speakers on the stage visible and audible.

Parking arrangements were made within a one-kilometer radius to accommodate 10,000–15,000 two-wheelers and around 4,000 larger vehicles. Six different parking zones were created for vehicles coming from Barmer, Jodhpur, Jalore, and Balotra routes. Attendees were expected to walk nearly one kilometer to reach the venue.

The entire Pachpadra area was decorated with modern lighting, cutouts, and hoardings. A grand pandal was erected with a special road passing through it, planned for the Prime Minister’s open-vehicle roadshow, where he would greet the public before reaching the stage. Cutouts of the prime minister as large 20 feet were ubiquitous along highways and refinery areas, with teams from Delhi and Jaipur engaged in the decoration work.

Security arrangements were also unprecedented, with around 5,000 personnel deployed. The entire Balotra district had been declared Red Zone and No-Fly Zone, with a complete ban on drones and aerial devices. Over 100 CCTV cameras were installed for surveillance.

Jodhpur Range IG Satyendra Singh had earlier stated that police deployment was divided into three divisions under 3 DIGs and 12 SPs, with extensive barricading and traffic management plans .

However, the organising teams faced significant challenges. With April 21 coinciding with Akshaya Tritiya (Akhateej), a major wedding day in the Marwar region, made it difficult for the organisers to mobilize crowds.

Additionally, extreme heat conditions posed risks for attendees, especially the elderly and women.

Authorities had arranged over 700 buses in Barmer district alone, including 120 Rajasthan Roadways buses, to transport people. Panchayat-level mobilization plans were also in place, targeting beneficiaries of schemes like PM Awas, Ujjwala, and MGNREGA.

Targets were set to gather 50,000 people from Barmer, 1 lakh from Balotra, and another 1 lakh collectively from Jaisalmer, Jalore, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Pali, and Sirohi.
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