Puducherry, Jan 4 (BPNS)
Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would inaugurate the 25th National Youth Festival on January 12 at the Union Territory as part of the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. The inaugural ceremony will be held at the Pondicherry Central University.
The Lieutenant Governor in a statement said that the festival is expected to draw around 7000 youths aged between 18-22 from across the country to Puducherry. She said that 500 youths from UT of Puducherry will also participate in the four-day youth festival to be held from January 12 to 16th.
Dr. Tamilisai Sounderarajan also said that those who are not vaccinated will not be allowed to participate in the youth festival. She said that Union Minister for Youth and Sports Affairs, Anurag Singh Thakur will reach the territory on Wednesday to oversee the preparations. Senior officers of the Youth affairs ministry led by Under Secretary in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports Pankaj Kumar Singh is already at Puducherry to oversee the program.
The Prime minister will reach Puducherry by 9.30 am and visit Aurobindo Ashram. He will virtually inaugurate the Kamarajar Manimandapam at Samipillaithottam, the National Youth festival, and the tool room of the MSME centre at the Puducherry Technological University campus.
The classes at the campus would be held online from January 5 to 20th as all the delegates will be housed at the hostels of the university and the inmates of the hostels are asked to vacate and go home.
The Prime Minister will leave for Madurai by 11.40 for Pongal celebrations organized by the state BJP named ‘Modi Pongal’ as part of the Pongal harvest festival in Tamil Nadu.
