New Delhi: Lakhs of people jostled at the Pragati Maidan in Delhi on Sunday to get a glimpse of the world’s cheapest and presently most news-making car.
Nearly 200,000 visitors turned up outside the Tata Motors stall hall number 11 in Auto Expo fair to get a glimpse of the Rs 1-lakh Nano. Tempers flared this as people waited for hours to get inside the hall. They pushed security personnel and tried to overrun the barricades.
At least two persons almost fell on the ground, but were quickly taken out by the security men.
According to industry research organisation Crisil, Nano may bring 65 per cent more families into the ambit of those who can now afford a car.
"It is a record for the Auto Expo. On Saturday, it was 160,000 and by 12 p.m. the figure hit the 180,000-mark just within 2 hours," said Gurpal Singh, deputy director general of industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), one of the organisers of the show.
Meanwhile, the Indian Trade Promotion Organisation has asked CII to shift one exhibit of the Nano to the Lal Chowk theatre, which will make it easier for the organisers to tackle the crowd.
The Tata team has doubled the temporary staff at their pavilion for the Sunday rush. They have also put up emergency units outside the pavilion.
It's almost the same story at the CII information booths. "The query begins and ends with the Nano," said an executive.
But it is not just Delhiites who are thronging the venue. A huge number of tourists, including many first timers, have changed their tour schedule to catch a glimpse of the Tata car.
"I don't care about the car necessarily but I wanted to take a moment and celebrate the awesomeness that is the word 'lakh'. It means 100,000 and it is what Indians use to express a big number the way we use million," said American Keetsa Mattress who managed to squeeze her way through to crowd to the Nano turntable.
And many like South Korean Jimmy Yep agreed Nano would change the way the world looks at developing countries.
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