Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive here at 4 p.m. on Tuesday for a four-hour visit of the State.
Mr. Modi will reach the Thiruvananthapuram international airport at 4 p.m. by a special aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) from New Delhi. He will immediately proceed from the IAF technical area at Shanghumughom to Kollam in an IAF helicopter.
At a function at the Asramam maidan there at 4.50 p.m., Mr. Modi will dedicate the Kollam bypass to the nation. The National Highway wing of the State Public Works Department has built the ₹352-crore bypass on National Highway 66 for the National Highways Authority of India on cost-sharing basis. The two-lane bypass includes three major bridges over Ashtamudi Lake, having a length of 1,540 metres. The bypass will reduce travel time between Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram and ease traffic in Kollam town.
The Prime Minister will address a public meeting organised by the BJP at the Cantonment Ground at 5.30 p.m. kicking off the party’s campaign for the Lok Sabha poll in the State.
Mr. Modi will return to the State capital at 7 p.m. in an IAF helicopter from the helipad in Asramam maidan.
In capital
He will then proceed to Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple at 7.15 p.m. After commissioning the State’s first project under the Swadesh Darshan scheme on the temple premises, Mr. Modi will offer prayers at the temple.
The Prime Minister will proceed to the IAF technical area and return in an IAF aircraft to New Delhi at 8 p.m.
This will be the third official visit of the Prime Minister to Kollam. His first visit to the city was in December 2015, when he unveiled a statue of R. Sankar. Subsequently, the Prime Minister visited Kollam in April 2016 after the Puttingal fire tragedy.