Prime Minister Narendra Modi will celebrate his 68th birthday in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi with 300 children, including 200 from primary schools and the remaining from slum areas, on Monday,said reports in Delhi.
During his two-day stay in Varanasi, the PM will address a rally on the amphitheatre ground of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on Tuesday and gift development schemes worth Rs 650 crore to his parliamentary constituency.
UP minister Neelkanth Tiwari said the PM would reach Varanasi at about 4 pm on Monday.“He will visit a government primary school in Naraur where he will inspect ‘Room to Read’ library and interact with children about 200 children,” Tiwari said, adding that under the Room to Read project, a library each had been set up in 538 government primary schools across Varanasi. Children will present birthday cards to the PM who will offer sweets to them.
“The PM will have a night stay at Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) guest house where he will meet about 70 children of slum areas. The children are being taught by a group of 10 students of the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth (MGKV),” he added.
The minister said as it would be the PM’s 68th birthday celebration, cakes, each weighing 68 kilograms, would be cut at 68 locations.
“Special prayers will be offered in 68 temples to pray for long life of the PM. About a thousand earthen lamps each will be lit at 90 locations. Party leaders and workers will visit government primary schools to celebrate the occasion with children,” Tiwari said.
Meanwhile, all major intersections across the city have been decorated beautifully. Sanitation drive is being carried out at 68 locations, including slum areas.
An official in the district administration, who did not wish to be named, said security had been beefed up in the city and at least 12,000 personnel had been deployed for the PM’s security. The PM will offer prayers at Kashi Vishwanath Temple in the evening.
Tiwari and other BJP office-bearers, along with 5,000 schoolchildren will watch a film ‘Chalo Jeetein Hain’ at Harsewanand Public school.
In the night, the PM may take a tour of Varanasi and also call on a few BJP office-bearers. Tiwari said the PM would gift development schemes worth about Rs 600 crore to his parliamentary constituency on Tuesday morning. “He will dedicate projects worth over Rs 400 crore to the people and lay the foundation of schemes worth Rs 200 crore,” he added.
The major projects to be dedicated to the people include IPDS underground cabling work in Old Kashi (Rs 362 crore), electrification of 3,722 villages (Rs 84.61 crore), installation of meters (Rs 9.9 crore), Nagepur (PM’s adopted village) potable water project (Rs 2.74 crore) and two power substations (Rs 5 crore) and Atal Incubation Centre.
“After being awarded by the Niti Ayog, the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has developed the Atal Incubation Centre. It would serve aspiring entrepreneurs in nurturing their ideas, providing test bed for the incubatees. It would help in capacity building, scale up and assist in getting resources and promote the culture of innovation,” Tiwari said.
He added that the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology (Rs 38 crore) and Centre for Vedic Sciences (Rs 35 crore) were among the projects whose foundation would be laid on Tuesday. Tiwari said the PM would also provide 260 electric wheels to potters to promote pottery.
BJP president of Kashi region Mahesh Srivastava said the PM’s birthday would be celebrated as Anand Utsav. “It is a matter of joy that PM Modi is coming to Kashi to celebrate his birthday,” he added.
‘Room to Read’ project communication head Sanjay Singh said the PM would interact with 11 children in the library and meet other students present in the school. Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Jai Singh said all preparations for the PM’s visit had been completed.
