Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mysuru to participate in the country’s main event of International Day of Yoga on June 21 this year, a decision has been taken to constitute a high-power committee headed by the Minister in-charge of Mysuru district and consisting of the MP, MLAs and MLCs belonging to all parties here to oversee the preparations and for the smooth conduct of the event.
Union Minister for Coal and Parliamentary Affairs Prahlad Joshi is visiting Mysuru on May 30 to discuss the preparations and the venue for the event.
Addressing press persons here on Tuesday, Minister in-charge of Mysuru district S.T. Somashekar said that the venue hasn’t been fixed and a decision on it will be taken soon. “Until the venue is fixed, we cannot say what could be the expected turnout for the event in which the Prime Minister is participating,” he replied.
He, however, said that discussions about the venue are on and a couple of rounds of meetings had been already held to deliberate on what all arrangements have to be in place ahead of the PM’s visit. “We could be in a position to give a clarity on the venue and other arrangements after Mr. Joshi’s visit,” he told reporters.
In the meantime, a committee will be constituted and it will function until the event, overseeing the arrangements, he added.
Mr. Somashekar said plans are afoot to project this year’s Yoga Day event in a big way, even across the world as it can serve as a booster to develop tourism in Mysuru. It can help develop the tourism and hospitality sector.
After the PM’s participation was confirmed, a lot of yoga schools in the State are expressing their interest to participate in the event. “As of now, we don’t know how many could be accommodated since the venue is yet to be finalised. Once the venue is finalized, we can tell the expected turnout of participants,” the Minister replied.
Mr. Somashekar said that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will be holding a meeting in Mysuru soon to discuss the Yoga Day preparations.
When asked about the bad condition of roads here ahead of the PM’s visit, he said the works that are to be taken up immediately will be discussed with the CM and ensure all things would be in place.
To a question on whether the elected representatives from all parties will be involved in the preparations, the Minister said former Ministers and MLAs G.T. Deve Gowda and Tanveer Sait had been invited to the meeting on Tuesday but they did not attend due to personal reasons. All of them will be taken into confidence in organising the event, he said.
MP Pratap Simha, MLAs S.A. Ramdas, L. Nagendra and other leaders of the party were present.
