President arrives in West Bengal on three-day visit

Kolkata: President Pranab Mukherjee arrived here from Hyderabad on Thursday evening on a three-day visit to West Bengal. He was received at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport by Governor M K Narayanan and senior West Bengal Minister Subrata Mukherjee. The President would inaugurate the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda at his ancestral house in the city on January 18 and the closing ceremony of the sesquicentennial of the monk at Ramakrishna Vivekananada Mission at Barrackpore the next day, official sources said. He is also scheduled to unveil statues of former chief minister Ajoy Mukherjee and freedom fighters Satish Samanta and Sushil Dhara at Tamralipta Janakalyan in East Midnapore district and address journalists on the completion on 90 years of Indian Journalists Association at Press Club Kolkata, the sources said.

Later, the President would grace the annual convocation of Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) at Shibpur in Howrah district. On January 20 morning, the President would inaugurate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose`s 116th birth anniversary celebration at Netaji Bhavan here. The President would later visit Vidyanagar College in South 24-Parganas district, where he was a once a teacher of Political Science, to lay the foundation stone of the new building of the college at the noon. He would also attend the concluding ceremony of sesquicentennial celebration of Calcutta High Court at the Netaji Indoor Stadium. The President would inaugurate the centenary celebration of the National Test House at the Town Hall. On January 20, the President would inaugurate the new integrated terminal building of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at its new complex before leaving for Delhi. PTI