Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended three programmes in the city on Saturday. He dedicated four renovated heritage structures Old Currency Building, the Belvedere House, the Metcalfe House and the Victoria Memorial Hall to the people of the city.
He also inaugurated the light and sound show at Howrah Bridge from Millennium Park and followed it up with a programme at Belur Math on the eve of Swami Vivekananda's 158th birth anniversary.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee shared the stage with Prime Minister at the Millennium Park programme from where the dynamic architectural illumination with synchronised light and sound system of Howrah Bridge was unveiled as a part of 150th anniversary celebrations of Kolkata Port Trust.
A commemorative plaque to mark 150th year of KoPT was also unveiled by Modi.
PM Modi arrived in Kolkata at 3.33 pm on Saturday and was received by state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was also present at the airport. State Home secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and Virendra, Director General of Police were also present at the airport to receive him. There was unprecedented security arrangements at the airport. Elaborate security arrangements were also made along Kidderpore Road and Red Road for smooth movement of his motorcade. All senior police officials of Kolkata Police including Anuj Sharma, Commissioner of Police were present at the Race Course.
Modi at first attended the programme at Old Currency Building where he said that a number of museums in the city will be developed as per international standards. "The renovation of the Indian Museum in Kolkata will be the first step towards this direction," he said.
He then announced his plans of developing the mint at Alipore as a museum of coinage and said that a new gallery will be unveiled at Victoria Memorial Hall that will portray the role of Bengal in the freedom struggle movement.
The Chief Minister had earlier left a dharna manch to attend the programme with Modi. However, she soon returned to the dharna after she received news that a section of students with 'Go Back Modi' slogan had tried to break the police barricade and come close to the dharna venue of Trinamool Chatra Parishad.
Banerjee appealed to the students to maintain calm and restrain while conducting the anti-CAA movement.