Mangaluru: People gather in large numbers at venue ahead of PM Narendra Modi's visit

MANGALURU: Ahead of PM Narendra Modi's visit to the city on Friday, people in large numbers started arriving at Gold Finch City grounds, as early as 9 am, where he is slated to lay the foundation stone for eight projects worth Rs 3,800 crore.
Most of the city buses remained off roads as they were used to ferry people to the venue. With public transport hit, the movement of people in most areas other than the venue was limited.
Nearly 100 senior police officers are in the city to ensure tight security during PM's visit. In addition to 2,000 policemen, platoons of Karnataka state reserve police, anti-naxal force, city armed reserve, district armed reserve, coastal security police, rapid action force, garuda force have been deployed. In total, about 3,000 personnel from different units are in the city.
The police security at the entrance gates prevented people from even carrying umbrellas. People were even asked to remove shoes during frisking at the entrance gate. A majority of the party workers reached the venue wearing saffron shawls and caps with BJP written on it. ASHA workers and students were also seen at the venue. While MLAs had visited several houses asking people to attend the programme, BJP Yuva Morcha representatives had visited various colleges urging students to be present for the programme. Whenever a minister arrived, the public would start shouting ‘Modi Modi”.
Karnataka governor Thawar Chand Gehlot, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, Union parliamentary affairs and coal minister Prahlad Joshi, ports, shipping and water transport and ayush minister Sarbanand Sonowal, Union minister of petroleum and natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri, minister for state for ports, shipping and water transport Shantanu Thakur and minister of state for tourism shripad Yesso Naik are expected to be present on the occasion.