Cultural troupes from Uttarakhand's Kumaon region will welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi at several points of a renovated 6-km road decorated with murals and paintings as he travels from the Naini Saini airport to a public meeting venue here on Thursday.
PM Modi will begin his visit with a darshan of Adi Kailash peak, the abode of lord Shiva, at Jolingkong from where he will head to Gunji village. There he will meet locals and security personnel, officials here said on the basis of an itinerary released by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). He will then offer prayers to lord Shiva at the Jageshwar Dham and address a public meeting in Pithoragarh.
"The prime minister will gift various development projects to the region during his visit. It will give a new identity to the Adi Kailash tourism circuit," Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said in a post on Facebook.
"We have invited cultural troupes from all corners of the Kumaon region to welcome the prime minister at several points of his drive from the airport to the meeting venue at the SS Waldia sports stadium in Pithoragarh," organiser of the cultural programme CS Chauhan said.
According to the itinerary released by the PMO, the prime minister will reach Jolingkong at 8.30 am from Bareilly, and will offer prayers at Parvati Tal and seek the blessings of Lord Shiva at Adi Kailash. He will also perform a puja at the Shiva-Parvati temple in Jolingkong and will be guided through it by local priests Virendra Kutiyal and Gopal Singh. The prime minister will then head for Gunji where he will be accorded a traditional welcome by the Rung tribes who will offer him their traditional turban and Ranga (upper garment). He will also be offered the waters of the holy Mansarovar lake brought by Nepalese traders, the patron of Rung Kalyan Sanstha Ashok Nabiyal said.
After meeting the local people and security personnel at Gunji, the prime minister will reach the Shaukiyathal helipad near Jageswar in Almora District at 11.30 am and drive directly to Jageshwar Dham about 15 km away. After parying at four temples, parikrama of the Jyotirlinga and meditation at Jageshwar Dham, Prime Minister Modi will have a lunch consisting of Kumaoni dishes, said Jyotsana Pant, the manager of the Jageshwar temple committee.
The prime minister will return to Pithoragarh at 1.45 pm and drive straight to the stadium to address a public rally. "We expect more than 50,000 people from the whole of Kumaon region to attend the rally," the BJP MP from Almora Ajay Tamta said.
