To give chance to a few, including some selected media persons, for interaction with the President Pranab Mukherjee, the Presidential secretariat hosted a high tea on Wednesday evening at Ashiana on Rajpur Road where the President is staying. Though all possible arrangements were made for the interaction of the President with the invitees the rain that lashed Dehradun in the evening dampened the spirit a bit.
To welcome the guests, students of Dehradun-based IHM served over a dozen items, but the guests failed to relish them because of drops pelting them.
On arrival, the President made two rounds to thank the guests who gathered. The Chief Minister Harish Rawat introduced him to them. Others who sat with the President were the Governor, the Chief Minster, the Speaker of the Assembly and the city Mayor. Among others present were the noted socialist Dr Hiren Pandya, the seer Swami Chidanand Muni and noted environmentalist Sunder lal Bahuguna.
later, on request, the secretary to the President Amita Paul arranged photos of the guests with the President.
However, on the flip side, the guests were inconvenienced because of the confusion over the administration issuing parking passes for the vehicles to be parked outside the Ashiana premises. As things happened they were asked by the police officials at the entrance of the premises to have their cars parked at NIVH and to enter the Ashiana premises through the inter- connecting gate. The guests had to walk at least a kilometre on Rajpur Road to reach Ashiana after parking their vehicles at NIVH. Many of the guests resented the harassment they had to undergo on account of the lack of coordination between the administration and the police.