Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday landed in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya on Wednesday to participate in the grand groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of Ram temple, a poll promised fulfilled by his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Prime Minister had left Delhi in the morning in an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane and landed in the state capital of Lucknow from where he was flown to the temple town in a helicopter.
PM Modi visit the 10th-century Hanuman Garhi temple for special prayers. He is expected to reach the Ram Janmabhoomi site at 12pm, where he will visit Ram Lalla or the infant Lord Ram for 10 minutes, according to his official itinerary.He will participate in a tree plantation programme inside the premises and will plant a sapling of Parijat or Indian night jasmine. PM Modi will be there for at least three hours in the temple town, which has been decked with 150,000 lamps, many buildings given a fresh coat of paint and murals from the epic Ramayana have been painted on walls. There will be as many as 5,100 urns decorated by local artists on the road that Modi will travel on.
Authorities have put in a massive security cloak in the town, which has been spruced up for the event. The borders of Ayodhya, which nearly 130km from the state capital of Lucknow, have been sealed, thousands of security personnel have been deployed and 75 check posts have been put to block approach roads.
“Over 300 police personnel, who are younger, fit and healthy as well as tested negative for Covid-19 infection, have already been handpicked for deployment in VVIP security,” said a senior police official on condition of anonymity.Authorities have put in place a strict protocol that includes testing all guests, enforcing the wearing of masks and sealing the district borders so that people from outside cannot gather at the site in the town where 16 people have succumbed to the coronavirus disease and has 604 active cases.
“Everyone will wear a mask, everyone will maintain social distancing and it’s going to be fine,” Anuj Jha, the district magistrate who is also a member of the temple trust, said.
The guests were allowed entry to the venue from 10am and they had to undergo Covid-19 test before getting in. Rapid testing kits will be used which will give result in 15 minutes. According to officials, the district health department will deploy its team for carrying out the tests, officials said.
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