Mysuru roads may get facelift ahead of PM Modi's visit

The roads in a few parts of the city may get a facelift.

Courtesy, the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to participate in the main event of the International Yoga Day (IYD) celebration on June 21.

Addressing a media conference, here, on Tuesday, District In-charge Minister
S T Somashekar said the visit of the prime minister was almost confirmed and the Central teams were inspecting Mysuru Race Club course, Mysuru Palace premises and also Mysuru Airport at Mandakalli, for a possible venue for the mega event.

“The Central team will finalise the venue shortly, to make arrangements. A committee, with people’s representatives of all parties of Mysuru, like MLAs, MLCs and MPs, will be formed with representatives of Yoga training centres in the city. The IYD celebrations will be chalked out by the committee,” he said.

“Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi will visit Mysuru on May 30, to inspect the arrangements. Prior to this, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will hold a meeting in Mysuru on May 28, to collect information and give directions. The condition of the roads in Mysuru is already brought to the notice of the CM. It will be brought to his notice, once again, during the meeting. Steps will be taken to repair the roads that have worn out and filled with potholes,” he said.

Boost to tourism

Somashekar said as the IYD celebration in Mysuru will be the main event, this year, Yoga practitioners from Bengaluru and also from across Karnataka will be invited to be part of the event.

“The visit of the PM is not political. Some people are making political statements, that he is visiting Mysuru in view of the Assembly polls slated for 2023. In fact, his visit will put Mysuru prominently on the global map. It will give a boost to the tourism sector,” he said.

In reply to a question, MP Prathap Simha clarified that Modi did not say that he will transform Mysuru into Paris. “When Modi issued this statement in 2014, Paris was attracting huge number of tourists from across the globe. Thus, Modi compared Paris with Mysuru, which also attracts the huge number of tourists. So, Mysuru has been extended a number of benefits, like an expansion of the runway at the airport, introduction of air services from Mysuru to various cities, etc., for the benefit of tourists,” Simha said.

MLAs L Nagendra and S A Ramadass, Mysuru Urban Development Authority Chairman H V Rajeev and BJP district (city) president T S Srivathsa were present.