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Ramesh Menon in Gwalior
While rain continued to hamper some of the massive funeral arrangements of senior Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia, the civic administration swung into action hoping to complete the arrangements by late Wednesday.
The body will be taken in a gun carriage from the Rani Mahal on Thursday morning and make its way into Chetri, the traditional funeral grounds of the royal Scindia family.
Policemen from Gwalior, dressed in their traditional uniform, will pull the gun carriage. Once it reaches Chetri, there will be a 21-gun salute in honour of the departed leader.
Many parts of Gwalior looked like a city under siege, as thousands of policemen and policewomen were being drafted in for security duties.
There are already around 50 Indian Police Service officers monitoring the security.
By Thursday morning, there might be around 7,000 security men on duty.
Earlier, Chief Minister Digvijay Singh held a series of meetings with government officers, who were helping to organise the funeral. He is personally supervising the operations.
The state administration has kept aside 500 cars and 200 buses to help transport mourners on Thursday.
Taxis have even been ordered from outside the state, as there is a serious shortage of vehicles with a large number of VIP's coming in.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will fly into Gwalior in a special aircraft. So will Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Ten chief ministers, five governors and around 250 ministers from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are expected to attend the funeral.
There will be a special train from New Delhi on Wednesday night for Gwalior.
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