PM Modi to visit Gorakhpur, Varanasi today

VARANASI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give a push to development as he undertakes a tour to two eastern Uttar Pradesh districts, attending centenary celebrations of the Gita Press and flagging off two Vande Bharat Express trains in Gorakhpur besides launching 29 development projects worth Rs 12,100 crore in Varanasi on Friday.

In Varanasi, the Prime Minister will have a tiffin meeting with the party workers, interact with them and give them a lesson in strengthening the party organisation at the booth level ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“We have made all preparations to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We will take him on a tour of the Lila Chitra Mandir that depicts stories of Lord Ram, Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva and a picture of Mahatma Gandhi,” said Gita Press manager Lal Mani Tiwari. He claimed that Modi will be the first Prime Minister to visit the Gita Press.

Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Gorakhpur comes nearly three weeks after the controversy over the Centre’s decision to confer Gandhi Peace Prize-2021 on the organisation on June 18, 2023, for its contribution towards social, economic and political change through non-violent and other Gandhian methods.

Prime Minister Modi headed the panel that unanimously decided to confer the award on the Gita Press. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, however, kicked a controversy when he called the union government’s decision to confer the award on Gita Press a ‘travesty’.

The Prime Minister will also reach Gorakhpur railway station to flag off two Vande Bharat express trains and lay the foundation stone for remodelling of Gorakhpur railway station with Rs 498 crore. He will inaugurate 125 km electrified rail track between Bhatni and Aurihar there.

In Varanasi, he will launch 29 development projects worth around Rs 12,110 crore. The Prime Minister will also address a public meeting at Wazidpur which is likely to be attended by around 50,000 people.

Kashi region BJP President Dilip Singh Patel said, “Prime Minister will inaugurate 19 projects worth over Rs 10,720 crore and lay the foundation of 10 projects worth over Rs 1,389 crore. He will also interact with 20 beneficiaries of various schemes.” He said that the Prime Minister will hold a meeting of 120 BJP workers at the DLW guest house.

Modi will interact with party workers during the tiffin meeting and will give the ‘mantra’ to strengthen the party at every booth. The BJP workers will apprise him of the condition of their respective wards and the development projects brought in Varanasi in the last nine years.

He will open Pt Deendayal Upadhyay Junction-Son Nagar railway line of the dedicated freight corridor there. Built at a cost of over Rs 6,760 crore, the new line will facilitate faster and efficient movement of goods. He will dedicate to the nation three railway lines, electrification of which has been completed at a cost of more than Rs 990 crore.

They include Ghazipur city-Aunrihar rail line, Aunrihar-Jaunpur line and the Bhatni-Aunrihar line. This will mark the completion of 100 per cent electrification of railway lines in Uttar Pradesh.