VRINDAVAN GEARS UP FOR PRESIDENT'S VISIT

Vrindavan

 

For the first time after independence, the holy town of Vrindavan is gearing up on an unprecedented scale to welcome the president of the republic Pranab Mukherji who will lay the foundation stone of the world's tallest Sri Krishna temple being built by ISKCON, on November 16.

 

Army personnel along with senior state level police officials will be on duty as the VVIPs, the UP governor, the chief minister and scores of high profile politicians start descending on the five helipads under construction close to the site. The CCTV cameras are being fixed along the road to Sri Bankey Bihari temple, the presiding deity of Vrindavan, which the president will visit, after the ceremony. A meeting of top officials has been convened in the state capital to review the preparations

 

According to ADM Dheerendra Sachan, the president will arrive at 11-15 in a helicopter at the Akshapatra campus. He will leave Vrindavan after a darshan of Bankey Bihari ji at 1.20 pm.

 

Police said in Vrindavan Tuesday that movement of pilgrims will remain restricted from early morning till the VVIPs departure. All hotels and dharamshalas are under scrutiny and the intelligence agencies monitoring the movement of foreign tourists.

 

"We have never seen this scale of security bandobust in our life," said a panda of Vrindavan Dhananjya Gautam. "To make sure the monkeys remain in control, they have brought in langoors who will shoo them away," said Alok Shastri.

 

 

"Good for Vrindavan, some civil work is going on and the town is now in public focus for a different reason. Normally it is due to the widows that Vrindavan's name figured in public discourse in recent years. Now we will have a grand monumental attraction, the 213 meter tall Sri Krishna temple," said a local resident Kunj Bihari.

 

But not all are amused by the scale of preparations which they see as a hindrance and an avoidable show of pomp and power in the home of the lord for whom all are equal. "The president should come as a humble servant of the people to the court of Sri Bankey Bihari ji," advises a panda Gyan Swarup.