STATE TIMES NEWS

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to attend 29 programmes spread across 12 states and union territories over the next 10 days ahead of the likely announcement of the Lok Sabha polls.
Officials said he will be visiting Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Delhi.
On Monday, he will unveil multiple development projects in Adilabad in Telangana and later visit the Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI) in Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu.
He will address public meetings in Adilabad as well as Chennai, the officials said.
Modi will launch several projects in Sangareddy in Telangana on March 5 and address an event before travelling to Odisha where he will inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of numerous development initiatives.
He will then address a public meeting in Chandikhole in Odisha before travelling to West Bengal.
On March 6, he will unveil development projects in Kolkata and address a public meeting in Barasat. He will then travel to Bihar and inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of multiple development projects in Bettiah, the officials said.
The Prime Minister will be in Jammu and Kashmir on March 7 and attend a media event in Delhi in the evening.
On March 8, he will participate in the first-ever National Creator’s Award in Delhi and then leave for Assam in the evening.
Modi will inaugurate the Sela tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh’s West Kameng and then unveil multiple development projects in Itanagar.
Later, he will unveil a statue of legendary Ahom army commander Lachit Borphukan in Jorhat, Assam.
Thereafter, he will inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of multiple development projects in Jorhat, the officials said.
He will also visit West Bengal and launch development projects in Siliguri and address a public meeting there.
On March 10, Modi will be in Uttar Pradesh and will dedicate to the nation various projects in Azamgarh, they said.
He will attend an event in Delhi the next day related to ‘Namo Drone Didi’ and ‘Lakhpati Didi’ programmes. Then, he will inaugurate the Haryana section of the Dwarka Expressway. In the evening, he will attend a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) programme.
On March 12, he will visit Sabarmati in Gujarat and Pokhran in Rajasthan and then lay the foundation stones of three important semiconductor projects in Gujarat and Assam via video conferencing on March 13.
He is also scheduled to attend an outreach programme for disadvantaged sections of society via video conferencing, they said.
The prime minister has been unveiling a slew of development projects running into lakhs of crores of rupees at various places as he turns the spotlight on his government’s development and welfare agenda in the run-up to the general elections expected to be held in April-May.

SFs put on alert ahead of PM’s Srinagar visit

SRINAGAR: Security forces have been put on alert ahead of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to address a public rally at the Bakshi Stadium here on Thursday, officials said on Sunday. The deployment of security personnel has been increased around the renovated Bakshi Stadium with barricades set up for checking the vehicles passing through the venue of PM Modi’s rally, the officials said.
Police and paramilitary forces are conducting random checking of vehicles at dozens of places in the city and elsewhere, the officials said. Special check points have been set up at various places in the city, including the entry and exit points as a precautionary measure,
they said. The security forces have increased patrolling around the venue of the rally as part of area domination exercise to ensure a smooth and incident-free visit of the prime minister.
This will be the Prime Minister’s first visit to the Kashmir valley after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
This will be his second visit to Jammu and Kashmir in as many months. PM Modi had visited the Jammu region last month to inaugurate several development projects. He also addressed a public rally in Jammu.