Dussehra preparations gain pace in Kullu ahead of PM Modi's visit

DHALPUR: With Dussehra just a day away, the preparations for the festivities paced up in Kullu ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit.

The gear-up is underway at the Dhalpur Ground, Kullu where PM Modi will visit on October 5 tomorrow and participate in the celebrations.

The International Kullu Dussehra Festival will be celebrated from October 5 to 11 at the Dhalpur Ground of Kullu.

The festival is unique in the sense that it is the congregation of more than 300 deities of the Valley. On the first day of the festival, the deities in their well-decorated palanquins pay their obeisance at the temple of the chief deity Bhagwan Raghunath Ji and then proceed to the Dhalpur Ground.

The Prime Minister will witness this divine Rath Yatra and the grand assembly of the deities in the historic Kullu Dussehra celebrations. It will be the first time ever that the Prime Minister of the country is participating in the Kullu Dussehra celebrations.

He will also inaugurate the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bilaspur as well as lay the foundation stone of projects worth over Rs 3,650 crore. According to Prime Minister's Office (PMO), AIIMS Bilaspur constructed at a cost of more than Rs 1,470 crore, is a state-of-the-art hospital with 18 speciality and 17 super speciality departments, 18 modular operation theatres and 750 beds with 64 ICU beds.

Spread over 247 acres, the hospital is equipped with 24 hours emergency and dialysis facilities, modern diagnostic machines like ultrasonography, CT scan, MRI etc, Amrit Pharmacy and Jan Aushadhi Kendra and also a 30-bed AYUSH block. The hospital has also set up the Centre for Digital Health to provide health services in the tribal and inaccessible tribal areas of Himachal Pradesh.