State Govt to host hour-long public reception at Polo Grounds
SHILLONG: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay his maiden visit to Shillong on May 27 to attend the plenary session of the North Eastern Council (NEC) and will also attend a public reception at Polo Grounds on the same day.
Official sources on Sunday said DoNER Secretary Naveen Verma had visited Shillong recently and carried out a recce following which he reported his assessment to Union DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh.
The DoNER minister met the Prime Minister on Saturday with the report after which the latter agreed to visit Shillong.
As per the tentative programme, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the plenary meeting of NEC at the State Convention Centre here on May 27 at 10 AM.
He will hold interactions with the chief ministers and governors of all the Northeastern states during the session for two hours.
The Prime Minister will then take part in an hour-long public reception at Polo Ground Number 5 at 12:45 PM to be accorded by the State government after which he will return to New Delhi the same day.
When contacted, NEC Secretary R. Muivah confirmed that as per the tentative programme, the Prime Minister is arriving in Shillong on May 27 following the invite of the NEC to take part in the plenary meeting.
He, however, said the matter related to the public reception will be finalized and approved once the chief minister returns to Shillong.
Sources said that earlier the Prime Minister was scheduled to flag off a ‘Run for Northeast to spread Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ (the Clean Indian campaign) at 7 AM on May 27, but the task was entrusted to the Union DoNER minister due to security reasons.
Sports icons and celebrities from across the North East are expected to take part in the campaign.
Meghalaya’s ‘cleanest village’ Mawlynnong will also be given special recognition on the occasion by providing citation and award to the village representatives.