Keshubhai reappointed chairman of Somnath temple trust

Former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel was on Wednesday reappointed as chairman of the Somnath Temple Trust for a year.

The decision was taken in a meeting held in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Somnath temple office in Gujarat's Gir-Somnath district on Wednesday.

Modi, who is one of the trustees, performed puja at the Somnath temple on Wednesday. He then attended the meeting of the temple trustees.

Veteran BJP leader L K Advani and party's national president Amit Shah were also present in the meeting in the capacity as trustees.

"During the meeting, all the trustees agreed to reappoint Keshubhai Patel as the trust's Chairman for 2017.

The proposal for this was put forward by PM Modi while Advaniji supported it," trustee-secretary P K Lahiri told reporters after the meeting.

According to him, Modi spent about 20 minutes more than the scheduled time for the meeting and discussed various issues related to development of the place of pilgrimage.

"Under the Central government's PRASAD scheme, we intend to build a facilitation centre for large number of tourists who come here from across the country. The Centre has also given its nod for three projects of solid waste management," Lahiri said.