French President Francois Hollande visits Rock Garden in Chandigarh

French President Francois Hollande on Sunday landed in Chandigarh, starting off his three-day visit to India. Mr Hollande will be attending the Republic Day parade in New Delhi as the chief guest.

On his arrival at Chandigarh airport, he was received by the governor of Punjab and Haryana, Mr Kaptan Singh Solanki. Mr Hollande was given a colourful welcome at the airport with the traditional “Gidda” and “Bhangra” dancers of Punjab.

Later he was greeted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Rock Garden of Chandigarh. Mr Modi and Mr Hollande greeted each other with a warm handshake and a hug on a wintry afternoon.

Shortly before the arrival of the French leader, Mr Modi had tweeted, “A warm welcome to French President @fhollande. We are honoured & delighted to have him as the Chief Guest for Republic Day celebrations.”

“President @fhollande & I will meet in Chandigarh & Delhi. We will build on the ground covered during our previous interactions,” the Prime Minister added.

Both leaders took a round of a section of the Rock Garden which has been created entirely from waste material by its founder, Mr Nek Chand.

The two leaders then visited the Capitol Complex here which houses the seats of the governments of both Punjab and Haryana. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande also visited the Government Museum and Art Gallery. Located in the heart of the city which was designed by French architect Le Corbusier.

The two leaders also viewed the displays of archaeological findings from the foothills of the Himalayas which suggest human activity possibly dating back to 2.6 million years ago, making them among the oldest known remnants of human existence.

This significant discovery is the result of seven years of extensive research and collaboration between the prehistory department of the National Museum of Natural History of France and the Society of Archaeological and Anthropological Research of Chandigarh undertaken under the auspices of an Agreement of Collaboration between Society for Archaeological Anthropological Research, India and French National Museum of Natural History.

Traffic snarls were witnessed on the roads leading to the route through which the cavalcade of the French President moved in the city on Sunday afternoon.

However, being Sunday the rush of vehicles on the roads was less which saved commuters from inconvenience. Later in the evening the two leaders flew separately to Delhi.