Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar: More than 88 lakh earthen lamps will illuminate over 18,500 locations across Gujarat on Thursday as part of the ‘Aashirvad No Divdo’ programme being organised under the month-long ‘Seva Ane Sankalp Abhiyan’ to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s 76th birthday and commemorate his 25 years of public service.
The programme will feature the lighting of 1.25 lakh diyas at the lakefront, while another 76,000 lamps will illuminate the Atal Bridge. In municipalities, 152 major programmes, 152 additional programmes such as bhajan sandhyas and 5,740 local events have been planned. Across municipal corporation and municipality areas, the combined programme includes 169 major events, 169 additional programmes and 18,508 local-level programmes.
He said prayers will be offered for the PM’s long life. Vaghani said the month-long campaign would also focus on taking the benefits of Ayushman Bharat, foodgrain distribution and farmer welfare schemes to the last mile. In Ahmedabad, the main event will be held at Kankaria Lakefront, where Union home minister Amit Shah and chief minister Bhupendra Patel will be present. The diyas will be lit at 7pm, coinciding with temple aartis. At Ambaji, assembly speaker Shankar Chaudhary and BJP state president Jagdish Vishwakarma will attend the programme. Deputy CM Harsh Sanghavi will be present at Olpad, while Union minister C R Paatil will attend the event at Navdi Ovara in Surat city. Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya will attend the programme at Hirasar in Rajkot.
Providing details on Wednesday, state govt spokesperson Jitu Vaghani said programmes across Gujarat would begin at 6pm with bhajan sandhyas and cultural performances.