PUDUCHERRY: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Puducherry on January 12 to inaugurate the 25th National Youth Festival, Lt Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan said.
The festival organised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports from January 12 to 16 in Puducherry will mark India's 75th year of independence.
The festival beginning on the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda is expected to draw around 7000 youths aged between 18 to 22 from all over the country, along with around 500 youths from Puducherry, she said. Those who are not vaccinated are not allowed to participate in the Youth Festival, said the Lt Governor, shortly after inaugurating a vaccination camp for children at a government school.
Union Youth Affairs Minister Anurag Thakur is visiting Puducherry on Wednesday to review the arrangements for the inaugural ceremony at Pondicherry University. Work is on for inauguration of the Kamarajar Mani Mandapam at Samipillaithottam through video conferencing, she said.
Already, a team of six officials led by Pankaj Kumar Singh, Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, is camping in Puducherry for over a week and overseeing the work for organising the festival.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to Puducherry around 9.30 am and then visit Sri Aurobindo Ashram, official sources said.
He will inaugurate the National Youth Festival, the Kamarajar Manimandapam and the building of the Toolroom of MSME centre at Pondicherry Technology University Campus. He would leave Puducherry by 11.40 am, said a government source.
The Puducherry Technological University has been chosen as one of the venues for the conduct of the festival and the entire campus has been brought under the control of the Puducherry administration. Accommodation for the youths will be provided in the hostels at the Technological University.
All classes would be held offline from January 5 to 20 and students have been asked to vacate the hostels. The Controller of Examinations of the university has also been requested to reschedule the examinations and hold them after January 20 in case the examinations have been scheduled between January 5 and 20. The Technological University was inaugurated by Vice President M Venkiah Naidu on September 14 this year during his two-day visit to Puducherry.