President's six-day southern sojourn from Dec 29

Hyderabad, Dec 21: President Ram Nath Kovind will have southern sojourn here from December 29 to January 3.

The President will stay at Rashtrapati Nilayam at Bolarum in Secunderabad Cantonment.

Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar on Tuesday reviewed the arrangements for the President's visit and stay. He held a coordination meeting with the officials of various heads of the departments.

The chief secretary directed the officials of concerned departments to work in coordination to make the arrangements in the most perfect way. He directed Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner and Secunderabad Cantonment Board CEO to take up road repair works and barricading so that traffic to the Rastrapathi Nilayam flows smoothly.

Somesh Kumar asked the electricity department to ensure 24 hours power supply, the medical department to deploy medical teams and other departments to make arrangements as per the protocol at Rastrapahti Nilayam.

The chief secretary said that the President's visit to Hyderabad should be seen as an opportunity to further enhance the prestige of the Telangana government and the recognition of Hyderabad worldwide. Accordingly, the officials have been directed to coordinate with all the departments to avoid any shortcomings in arrangements and make the President's visit comfortable.

M. Mahender Reddy, Director General of Police, Sunil Sharma, Special Chief Secretary, Energy, Vikas Raj, Principal Secretary, Political, Ravi Gupta, Principal Secretary, Home, Sanjay Kumar Jain, DG, Fire Services, Jitender, Additional DG,A SAM Rizvi, Secretary, Health, Medical & Family Welfare, Anitha Rajendra, MD, TS Dairy Development Corporation and other officials attended the meeting.

Rashtrapati Nilayam is the President of India's official residence in south India. Every year the President spends a few days at the Rasthrapati Nilayam during the winter and conducts official business from the Nilayam.

Constructed during 1860, this building has a total land area of 90 acres. A single-storeyed building, it contains on its premises 11 rooms. It has a dining hall, cinema hall, darbar hall, morning room, dining room, among others.

After Hyderabad acceded to India on September 17, 1949, Rashtrapati Nilayam building was taken over from the Nizam and handed over to the President's Secretariat.

Last year, the President's southern sojourn was cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic.