Spoilsport cops stop Expo shows

Parm · 11th January 2010, 10:13

The music was loud, the girls looked glamorous and the cars were, well, cars. Around noon, it all became a tad too heady for the wildly cheering crowds, or so the policemen on duty concluded.
They temporarily shut down the shows at what has been billed as the world’s biggest automotive exhibition at Pragati Maidan, leaving the organisers livid.
They are now threatening to take the show outside Delhi.
“Though we want to stay here, we will have to look for alternate sites because the show will only get bigger in 2012,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation in Indian Industry, one of the organisers.
“We may look at some alternative in the NCR itself and probably in Gurgaon,” he added.
If the show does move out of Delhi, it will be a big loss for India Trade Promotion Organisation, which is expected to make around Rs 28 crore from the Auto Expo.
The expo itself may lose any chance of being considered in the same league as the Geneva, Frankfurt, Detroit or Tokyo motor shows, the organisers said. It’s quite big with 2,100 companies from 30 countries participating this time (see box for more).
The police said the shutdown was temporary and only undertaken to control the crowds. A team of 15 police officers went around closing stage shows hosted by Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Honda Motorcycles and Scooter India between 12 and 4 PM.
Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said, “The police closed the stalls for some time to prevent any untoward incident from happening.”
“Two of our Asimo (robot) shows were cancelled,” said a Honda spokesperson.

Spoilsport cops stop Expo shows- Hindustan Times

NutsNBolts · 11th January 2010, 10:17

Since when did police started acting on their own??

theragingbull · 11th January 2010, 10:19

That is outrageous! Don't our cops have any better things to do than this! There is absolutely no reason why the show should be stopped. If they wanted to control the crowds, then why not stop them at the entry after a certain limit is crossed?

prince_pervez · 11th January 2010, 10:22

You can't dangle girls in front of Indian crowds and get away with it!

One the other hand if there were to be some untoward incident then we would be the first to blame the inefficiency of the Police and administration for bringing shame to our country in front of entire global media covering the event. IMHO the Police acted proactively.

shishir_bn · 11th January 2010, 10:25

As @Parm mentioned in the post """Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said, “The police closed the stalls for some time to prevent any untoward incident from happening.”""".This might be the reason. You never know what might start during these times when the atmosphere is hot. Police might have seen these situations many times.So they put a temporary stop

abishek2222 · 11th January 2010, 10:31

How typical, instead of doing something usefull they have to spoil people having a good time just like a couple of for a stroll.all they needed was a cut of the profit being made which probably never reached the right hands in time so Temporary harassment to make people see light?

arun1100 · 11th January 2010, 10:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

You can't dangle girls in front of Indian crowds and get away with it!

One the other hand if there were to be some untoward incident then we would be the first to blame the inefficiency of the Police and administration for bringing shame to our country in front of entire global media covering the event. IMHO the Police acted proactively.

+1 to this.

And what about the traffic jams that this show creates. We again blame the police for not maintaining the traffic.

Better the show is shifted to outskirts of Delhi or NCR.

nairrk · 11th January 2010, 10:40

Can't a show can be organised without glamorous Girls and Loud Music?

In another word, yes the crowd number can be controlled by some entry restrictions?

ac 427 · 11th January 2010, 10:51

kudos to the indian police on acting proactively rather re-actively. There was a similar incident that happened last auto expo, but since the police did nothing the crowd went out of control and eventually the police had to lathi-charge the crowd out of the stall.

FYI the crowd went out of control because of the Nano Launch.

cheers,
ac

akshaymahajan · 11th January 2010, 10:55

isnt the auto expo already being shifted to commonwealth village from 2012??

gomzi · 11th January 2010, 14:21

If the situation does look like it'll go unruly then this was a good step by the Police. I read about the unruly crowd behaviour when SRK and The Doctor had visited the AutoExpo, so i'd expect the Police were extra cautious.
No harm in that.

turbo1787 · 11th January 2010, 14:42

Hi guys, I went to the expo yesterday( 10th Jan) and the crowds were massive and unruly.
The police even closed the Mercedes stall for about 15 minutes as the things were getting out of hand. Later on Batches of 1000 people each were let in once a batch came out in an orderly manner.
We must understand that Police has to take such measures to prevent situations like stampede, injury to people etc.
I know this is a free country and people can go wherever they want , whenever they want but people who are actually enthusiasts or / and are planning to buy a new car should visit the expo. what i mean is people were there with their toddlers 2-4 year olds and some were complete joint families. How rational is that?

Why not shift the Auto expo to the India International Expo centre at Greater Noida. It is huge and was built keeping in mind the Trade Fair and Auto expo.
Kudos to the police for acting proactively.

GTO · 11th January 2010, 18:13

I'm not at all surprised and if the cops did shut down the Expo temporarily, they'd have good reason to. I was at the Expo on Tuesday & Wednesday, but seeing pictures of the crowd outside Thursday onward, the numbers would be impossible to manage.

There is already talk of the Expo being moved to another location. I'd say move it as far out of the city as possible. That way, only the serious folk would make it to the Auto Expo 2012.

BenjiRoss · 11th January 2010, 18:29

Isn't it actually good that the police acted before there was a stampede or major incident?
If something major had happened cops would have been blamed too.
I guess they had no other option!
Can mods please change the thread title to ensure that the cops are not unnecessarily blamed.

And shouldn't this be in the official Auto Expo 2010 subforum?

Bumble Beast · 11th January 2010, 18:36

Its the mentality that should be changed.
In majority of the countries cars are well showcased with a girl beside them, My point being I dont see anything wrong in this, If there were some obscene live performances then I cannot comment. But then again it depends on how obscene the organizers decided the live performance should be. I am sure the organizers had a filter?

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO

There is already talk of the Expo being moved to another location. I'd say move it as far out of the city as possible. That way, only the serious folk would make it to the Auto Expo 2012.

Yes, I strongly second GTO. We had visitors from all over the country and some foreign too. It wont hurt if the venue is shifted a few kms away.

11th January 2010, 10:13	#1
Parm Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: in a Toyota! Posts: 2,753 Thanked: 890 Times	Spoilsport cops stop Expo shows The music was loud, the girls looked glamorous and the cars were, well, cars. Around noon, it all became a tad too heady for the wildly cheering crowds, or so the policemen on duty concluded. They temporarily shut down the shows at what has been billed as the world’s biggest automotive exhibition at Pragati Maidan, leaving the organisers livid. They are now threatening to take the show outside Delhi. “Though we want to stay here, we will have to look for alternate sites because the show will only get bigger in 2012,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation in Indian Industry, one of the organisers. “We may look at some alternative in the NCR itself and probably in Gurgaon,” he added. If the show does move out of Delhi, it will be a big loss for India Trade Promotion Organisation, which is expected to make around Rs 28 crore from the Auto Expo. The expo itself may lose any chance of being considered in the same league as the Geneva, Frankfurt, Detroit or Tokyo motor shows, the organisers said. It’s quite big with 2,100 companies from 30 countries participating this time (see box for more). The police said the shutdown was temporary and only undertaken to control the crowds. A team of 15 police officers went around closing stage shows hosted by Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Honda Motorcycles and Scooter India between 12 and 4 PM. Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said, “The police closed the stalls for some time to prevent any untoward incident from happening.” “Two of our Asimo (robot) shows were cancelled,” said a Honda spokesperson. Spoilsport cops stop Expo shows- Hindustan Times
	() Thanks

11th January 2010, 10:17	#2
NutsNBolts BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Jammu Posts: 817 Thanked: 41 Times View My Garage	Since when did police started acting on their own??
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11th January 2010, 10:19	#3
theragingbull Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 2,601 Thanked: 646 Times View My Garage	That is outrageous! Don't our cops have any better things to do than this! There is absolutely no reason why the show should be stopped. If they wanted to control the crowds, then why not stop them at the entry after a certain limit is crossed?
	() Thanks

11th January 2010, 10:22	#4
prince_pervez Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Redwood shores, CA, USA Posts: 4,210 Thanked: 51 Times View My Garage	You can't dangle girls in front of Indian crowds and get away with it! One the other hand if there were to be some untoward incident then we would be the first to blame the inefficiency of the Police and administration for bringing shame to our country in front of entire global media covering the event. IMHO the Police acted proactively. Last edited by prince_pervez : 11th January 2010 at 10:28.
	() Thanks

11th January 2010, 10:25	#5
shishir_bn Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,195 Thanked: 120 Times	As @Parm mentioned in the post """Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said, “The police closed the stalls for some time to prevent any untoward incident from happening.”""".This might be the reason. You never know what might start during these times when the atmosphere is hot. Police might have seen these situations many times.So they put a temporary stop
	() Thanks

11th January 2010, 10:31	#6
abishek2222 BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Chennai Posts: 355 Thanked: 166 Times	How typical, instead of doing something usefull they have to spoil people having a good time just like a couple of for a stroll.all they needed was a cut of the profit being made which probably never reached the right hands in time so Temporary harassment to make people see light?
	() Thanks

11th January 2010, 10:40	#8
nairrk Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Kannur Posts: 2,441 Thanked: 674 Times View My Garage	Can't a show can be organised without glamorous Girls and Loud Music? In another word, yes the crowd number can be controlled by some entry restrictions?
	() Thanks

11th January 2010, 10:51	#9
ac 427 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Mumbai Posts: 1,393 Thanked: 244 Times View My Garage	kudos to the indian police on acting proactively rather re-actively. There was a similar incident that happened last auto expo, but since the police did nothing the crowd went out of control and eventually the police had to lathi-charge the crowd out of the stall. FYI the crowd went out of control because of the Nano Launch. cheers, ac
	() Thanks

11th January 2010, 10:55	#10
akshaymahajan BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Delhi Posts: 597 Thanked: 449 Times	isnt the auto expo already being shifted to commonwealth village from 2012??
	() Thanks

11th January 2010, 14:21	#11
gomzi BHPian Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 798 Thanked: 236 Times	If the situation does look like it'll go unruly then this was a good step by the Police. I read about the unruly crowd behaviour when SRK and The Doctor had visited the AutoExpo, so i'd expect the Police were extra cautious. No harm in that.
	() Thanks

11th January 2010, 14:42	#12
turbo1787 BHPian Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: NOIDA Posts: 103 Thanked: 23 Times	Hi guys, I went to the expo yesterday( 10th Jan) and the crowds were massive and unruly. The police even closed the Mercedes stall for about 15 minutes as the things were getting out of hand. Later on Batches of 1000 people each were let in once a batch came out in an orderly manner. We must understand that Police has to take such measures to prevent situations like stampede, injury to people etc. I know this is a free country and people can go wherever they want , whenever they want but people who are actually enthusiasts or / and are planning to buy a new car should visit the expo. what i mean is people were there with their toddlers 2-4 year olds and some were complete joint families. How rational is that? Why not shift the Auto expo to the India International Expo centre at Greater Noida. It is huge and was built keeping in mind the Trade Fair and Auto expo. Kudos to the police for acting proactively.
	() Thanks

11th January 2010, 18:13	#13
GTO Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 70,534 Thanked: 300,734 Times View My Garage	I'm not at all surprised and if the cops did shut down the Expo temporarily, they'd have good reason to. I was at the Expo on Tuesday & Wednesday, but seeing pictures of the crowd outside Thursday onward, the numbers would be impossible to manage. There is already talk of the Expo being moved to another location. I'd say move it as far out of the city as possible. That way, only the serious folk would make it to the Auto Expo 2012.
	() Thanks

11th January 2010, 18:29	#14
BenjiRoss Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Tamilnadu Posts: 1,066 Thanked: 1,330 Times	Isn't it actually good that the police acted before there was a stampede or major incident? If something major had happened cops would have been blamed too. I guess they had no other option! Can mods please change the thread title to ensure that the cops are not unnecessarily blamed. And shouldn't this be in the official Auto Expo 2010 subforum? Last edited by BenjiRoss : 11th January 2010 at 18:49.
	() Thanks