PUNE, Jan 1: State vice-president of the Republican Party of India (RPI) Rohidas Gaikwad today declared that a large contingent of his party not only cleared within 48 hours the Race Course grounds of all the litter that had accumulated there when half a million party workers from all over the country held a rally there on Sunday, but have also now made it useful for the army.Speaking to The Indian Express, Gaikwad pointed out that the vast expanse of nearly 65 acres did not appear to have been used by the army for ages either as a parade ground, as claimed by authorities, or for any other purpose.Party volunteers, he claimed, had to clear a vast stretch of grass that had grown right up to a man's chest. Reptiles, including venomous species, driven out in the process were innumerable, but what was more shocking was that a highly decomposed human body was also found in the grass. That shows the level of the ground's use by the army.Soon after Sunday's rally, Gaikwad said, workers of the party and hired labour begain cleaning the litter on Tuesday morning and completed the task the same evening. Today, the whole area inside the race tracks and those outside the compound are more clean than ever. In fact, he said, on Thursday, he noticed the army authorities placing a board declaring the ground to be a helipad, obviously taking advantage of the cleaning and levelling done by the party workers before the rally.
