Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Baripada in Mayurbhanj district on Saturday. He is scheduled to inaugurate a slew of projects and address a public meeting.
As it is Modi's first-ever visit to Mayurbhanj district, people of Baripada and other parts of district are eagerly waiting for him.
The district administration and the BJP rank and file have made all preparations to make the PM visit hassle-free and successful. While the administration is in no mood to leave anything to chance, the saffron brigade appears to be leaving no stone unturned to make it a historic event.
Tight security arrangements with barricading around the meeting ground are already in place. Senior Central Government officials and senior BJP office-bearers are now camping here to oversee the arrangements. Most of the local institutions, commercial or otherwise, are likely to down their shutters on Saturday, considering the safety and security angle of their own. In all likelihood, Baripada is going to witness a sea of humanity on this eventful day.
It may be recalled that Modi's Baripada visit is taking place 21 years after late veteran BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee came to this place. Interestingly, Modi will address people on the same Chhow Padia here, where Vajpayee had addressed a massive gathering on January 15, 1998.
More importantly, Vajpayee had then assured the Mayurbhanj people of conversion of Rupsa-Bangriposi narrow gauge railway line into a broad gauge one, and that did become a reality later when he became the country's Prime Minister. Thus, this time too, people here have similar expectations from Modi.
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who visited Modi's meeting venue, said an euphoric atmosphere has been created ahead of the PM visit.
"The Prime Minister will inaugurate many preople's welfare projects and lay foundation-stones for proposed ones, including running of a train between from Tata to Mayurbhanj. He will address a public meeting where lakhs of people from across the State, particularly north Odisha, will join," said Pradhan.