Spectators to witness shorter version of R'Day parade, masked and fewer jawans in contingent

New Delhi [India], January 16 (ANI): From next week onwards, Rajpath will have all contingent full dress rehearsals for the upcoming Republic Day parade. This year, spectators will watch and notice various new things. All jawans will not march past till Red Fort as the parade will end at the National Stadium.
Besides this, the distance for the march has been reduced by 50 per cent. Moreover, jawans will be seen wearing masks and instead of 12X12 contingent system, this year it will be 12X8 contingent system. It means, instead of 144 jawans, there will be 96 jawans in one contingent.
According to Inspector General, Training, CRPF RK Yadav, the reserve force for the first time will have its own tableau.
"This year we will be having our own tableau and its theme will be combat skills of CRPF in conflict zones. Also, this year, all jawans will be wearing masks and will be maintaining social distancing as told by the government," IG Yadav told ANI in Kadarpur, Training ground in Gurgaon.
Similarly, ITBP which was training in dense foggy weather at Rajpath will be having only one contingent.
Neelendra Kumar, Second in Command, who is also leading the contingent said that every day jawans are rehearsing for 8-9 hours. Every day they come to Rajpath at 4:30 am and start their parade rehearsal.
This year, a Paramilitary band comprising ITBP, CRPF, and CISF jawans will also be performing in beating retreat. A band was seen rehearsing in the CRPF camp under the supervision of CRPF officials. All three Paramilitary forces' jawans will perform for almost seven minutes in beating retreat. (ANI)