June 21 will be a special day for Lucknow. For the city will host none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of International Yoga Day.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken it upon himself to make the day memorable for the PM. He is personally supervising all the preparations. Adityanath does not want any slip-ups during the PM’s first visit to Lucknow after he took over as CM.
In the Secretariat on Saturday, the CM chaired a meeting about the Yoga Day arrangements. Union Ayush minister Shripad Naik was also present at the meeting, as well as the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police. Naik appeared to be happy with the preparations.
This is the first BJP government in Uttar Pradesh since June 21 was declared the International Yoga Day. That is why the preparations are on a large scale. It is a priority for CM Adityanath that the programme goes off without a hitch. An indication of this is the fact that when Union Home Minister and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh visited the city last month, the CM met him at his official residence on 5 Kalidas Marg in order to review the preparations.
This is the first time that the Chief Secretary of the state is video-conferencing with the commissioners of the state about the preparations.
The live telecast of Modi’s Yoga session in Lucknow’s Ramabai Ambedkar maidan on June 21 will be telecast live at all the district headquarters of the government. The Yoga Day programmes in the district headquarters, moreover, will be telecast live in Lucknow. Giant LED screens will be installed at various places in Lucknow to display the Yoga Day programmes.
The state government will provide yoga mats and t-shirts to all those who take part in the Yoga Day programme. The state government will also deploy around 1,000 buses to ferry people to the Ramabai Ambedkar maidan. The LDA has drawn up a budget of around Rs 21 crore for the event.
Recently, state Governor Ram Naik, CM Adityanath and the entire cabinet of ministers attended a Yoga training session organised at Rajbhavan. The yoga training was conducted by Baba Ramdev.
CM Adityanath has on several occasions praised Modi for ensuring recognition for Yoga at international level.
As per the set itinerary, Modi will reach Lucknow on June 20, and on the same day will inaugurate the new building at the Central Drug Research Institute and the Abdul Kalam Technical University. On Friday, Adityanath inspected these campuses and gave special instructions to officials. The building was constructed at a cost of about Rs 194 crore. Thereafter, Modi will take part in the Yoda Day programme on June 21.
Modi and Adityanath share a love for and an awareness of the importance of Yoga. Accordingly, Adityanath is trying to make International Yoga Day a memorable one for Modi.
