PM Modi to attend Dev Deepawali celebrations in Varanasi today
VARANASI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Dev Deepawali celebrations in Varanasi on Monday. He will also watch a light and sound show at the archaelogical site of Sarnath the same evening. The city has been beautified ahead of PM Modi’s visit.
Soon after arriving here, PM Modi will dedicate to the nation the six-lane widening project of the Handia (Prayagraj) - Rajatalab (Varanasi) section of National Highway 19 and address a Bharatiya Janata Party workers’ meeting at Khajuri village in the Mirzamurad area of the district.
The 73-kilometre stretch of the newly widened and sixlaned NH19, made at a total cost of Rs 2,447 crore, is expected to reduce the travel time between Prayagraj and Varanasi by an hour. Subsequently, PM Modi will attend Dev Deepawali celebrations and light an earthen lamp at Rajghat on the bank of the Ganga.
He will also visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple corridor site to review the progress of the project.
PM will take a cruise to catch a glimpse of the ghats that will be illuminated by lakhs of diyas (earthen lamps). Over six lakh diyas will brighten the ghats on the western bank of the river and another five lakh of them will illuminate the sandy eastern bank of the Ganga.
In Varanasi, the Ganga has an unbroken chain of 84 ghats on the western bank of the river. The sandy eastern bank of the river stretches for about seven kilometres.
The district administration has prohibited all fireworks in the district to provide foolproof