Rain washes out PM Varanasi visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to his constituency Varanasi on Sunday had to be cancelled due to heavy and incessant rains in the region. It had been raining in Varanasi since Saturday and the DLW Ground, where the Prime Minister was supposed to address a public meeting and launch the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), a flagship project of his government which aims at strengthening sub-transmission and distribution network in the city along with 100 per cent metering facility, was heavily waterlogged.

The district administration, since Sunday morning, had set up pumps to drain out water from the ground but continued rains worsened the situation. Divisional commissioner R.M. Srivastava told mediapersons in the afternoon that he had received a telephonic communiqué from the Prime Minister’s Office regarding cancellation of his visit after assessing the situation. Mr Modi was also scheduled to inaugurate a multi-specialty trauma centre at BHU, the biggest in the country, constructed at a cost of Rs 165 crore, and other development projects in Varanasi town worth Rs 140 crore. State BJP president Laxmikant Bajpai said that a fresh date for the programmes will be announced soon.

This was scheduled to be the third visit of the Prime Minister to his constituency. He had visited Varanasi a day after being elected in 2014 and had attended the Ganga aarti. He had visited his constituency again in December.