Thanks to the ?final of finals? between the two arch-rivals India and Pakistan taking on each other in the Cricket World Cup semi-final in the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium, Chandigarh and its satellite township Mohali became the cynosure of all eyes for whoever has any interest in cricket or in Indo-Pak relations. With the top brass of India, led by PM Manmohan Singh, and his Pakistani counterpart watching the match and catching up on the talks, an all-out fight was on for tickets/passes as well as accommodation for the visitors. Local VIPs were forced to give way to the VVVIPs and the VVIPs.
Security was unprecedented?more than 5,000 police personnel at the match-venue and around 2,000 police personnel at various other places like where the VVIP dignitaries were staying and on the routes that their cavalcades crossed. All central security agencies, including RAW, IB, CBI, NSG, SPG and the police forces of Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana were pressed into service to prevent any untoward incident. Anti-air-craft guns were installed at the stadium; bulletproof cabins for both the PMs were readied; the area around Chandigarh was converted into a ?no-flying zone? for the duration of the match; plus the airforce and the army were put on high-alert.
A city with limited guest accommodations was so choked with dignitaries that many of India?s who?s who were left searching for a place to stay. Five-star hotels were packed to capacity and their waiting lists piled up like never before. The Chandigarh administration had even invited city residents to volunteer house accommodations for people visiting for the match.
The city airport had never gotten this busy either. Besides the aircraft of the two PMs, as many as 60 chartered planes were in queue for getting permissions to land and take-off tomorrow. The chartered aircraft were given parking spaces at the airports as far away as Amritsar, Patiala, Ludhiana and other places in Punjab and Haryana, since the Chandigarh Airport did not have the capacity to park so many aircraft.
The Chandigarh city roads also got really packed, with so many high-profile dignitaries travelling to the match venue in the city’s bordering district of Mohali, in Punjab. Police personnel were pressed into round-the-clock duties for guarding the dignitaries. The hotels (including Taj-GVK, Mountview, Shivalikview and UT guesthouse) as well as the Punjab and Haryana Raj Bhawans, were converted into fortresses, with snipers and specially trained commandos guarding the buildings.
Most tri-city residents (including those from Panchkula) were wishing for an early return to normal life.