President Pratibha Devsingh Patil arrived here on Monday afternoon on a three-day visit to the State.
Governor R.S. Gavai, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Mayor K. Chandrika, Chief Secretary P. Prabhakaran, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Southern Air Command Air Marshal Satish Pal Singh and Director General of Police Jacob Punnoose received the President at the tarmac. Speaker G. Karthikeyan, Deputy Speaker N. Sakthan, Revenue Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala, senior officials and religious leaders were present at the airport to greet the President.
Soon after the reception, Ms. Patil left for Kollam by helicopter where she will stay overnight at a hotel and leave for Kottayam in the morning. She will address the valedictory of the centenary celebration of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Kottayam at noon. She will inaugurate the President's Trophy boat race in the Ashtamudi backwaters in Kollam in the evening..
The President will fly back to Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday morning and inaugurate the regional centre of the Indira Gandhi National Open University here. She will return to Delhi the same day afternoon.
