Srinagar, (Samajweekly) President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday arrived in Kashmir on her first two-day visit to J&K.
She landed at the technical area of Srinagar airport around 10.10 am and was given a guard of honour there.
From the airport, she will fly in a helicopter to the headquarters of Army’s 15 corps in the Badami Bagh cantonment area of the city.
As the supreme commander of the armed forces, the President will lay a wreath at the war memorial inside the headquarters of 15 corps.
After laying the wreath at the war memorial, the President will drive in a cavalcade to the Hazratbal campus of Kashmir University where she will deliver the 20th convocation address of the University.
A total of 400 students/scholars will receive gold medals, M.Phil and Ph.D degrees at the convocation and some of them will be awarded by the President personally.
A light and sound show will later be attended by the President on the Dal Lake in Srinagar.
Lt Governor Manoj Singh will host the President at a formal dinner in the evening today.
On October 12, the President will fly to Jammu city and then take a helicopter to reach the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra town of Reasi district.
The President will pay obeisance at the shrine and also inaugurate two prestigious projects, a skywalk and the remodelled Parvati Bhawan.
The skywalk will make the journey of the pilgrims smooth as two different routes will be used by those going to the shrine and those returning after the ‘Darshan’.
The remodelled Parvati Bhawan has a facility of 1,500 lockers and separate floors exclusively for men and women.
The Parvati Bhawan has facilities for 10,000 to 15,000 pilgrims daily who will deposit their luggage in the lockers, take bath and then proceed for Darshan from where they will return through the skywalk.
Parvati Bhawan is a free of cost facility for the pilgrims.
Security has been heightened in Srinagar on the President’s arrival.
The campus of Kashmir University has been sanitized by the security forces. Human surveillance in Srinagar city and inside the University campus has been augmented by drones, hi-tech electronic equipment and exclusive use of CCTV cameras.
All entry and exit points into Srinagar city have been sealed and the entry of vehicles and pedestrians is highly regulated through frisking, etc.
Special cordon and search operations are being carried out at different places in the city to ensure that anti-national elements and miscreants are kept at bay.
“Our security arrangements are 100 per cent foolproof with special focus to ensure that the common man is not put to convenience”, said a senior security official.
