Preparations are in full swing and tight security is in place in the
ancient temple town where Modi is expected to lay the foundation stone
of a trade facilitation centre for weavers and also adopt a village
under his "Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana" (MPs' model village scheme).
UP
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will be here to welcome the Prime
Minister. Union Textiles Minister Santosh Gangwar will also be present,
Additional District Magistrate (protocol) OP Chaubey said.
According
to Inspector General of Police (Public Grievances) Ashok Jain, 12 SP
rank police officials of Uttar Pradesh, 18 Additional SPs, 20 Deputy
SPs, 135 sub-inspectors, besides more than 1000 personnel of the
Provincial Armed Constabulary have been deployed.
The Special
Protection Group which is responsible for the Prime Minister's security
would be assisted by officials and personnel of the Uttar Pradesh
police.
The Prime Minister's visit, which is likely to last a
little over 24 hours, has sent soaring the hope of a better future among
residents of the holy town, which has been facing crumbling
infrastructure and lack of basic amenities.
Among the oldest
cities in the world, Varanasi has been constantly in the spotlight ever
since Modi chose to retain the constituency he had won by a huge margin
of 3.7 lakh votes, vacating Vadodara in his home state of Gujarat where
his victory (by 5.7 lakh votes) was even bigger.
Soon after the
Bharatiya Janata Party won the Lok Sabha elections in May, Modi had
visited the city and offered prayers at Kashi Vishwanath Mandir and
taken part in Ganga Aarti.
During his tour, the Prime Minister is
likely to lay the foundation stone of a trade facilitation centre and a
crafts museum, announcement for which was made in the first general
budget presented by his government in June this year.
The project
is aimed at the uplift of the weavers, whose plight had been repeatedly
highlighted in election speeches by Modi who had vowed to take steps
for their betterment.
