The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Manmohan Singh arrives on three-day visit to State

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Friday, Feb 11, 2011
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Kerala - Kochi

Manmohan Singh arrives on three-day visit to State

Staff Reporter

Warm reception:Prime Minister Manmohan Singh being received by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan on his arrival at the Naval Airport in Kochi on Thursday night.

KOCHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who arrived for a three-day visit of the State, was accorded a warm reception at the Naval Airport here on Thursday night.

Dr. Singh, along with his wife, Gurcharan Kaur, arrived here by the Air Force aircraft, Rajkamal, at 9 p.m. They were received at the tarmac by a delegation led by Governor R.S. Gavai and his wife Kamaltai Gavai and Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan.

Union Ministers A.K. Antony, Vayalar Ravi, and C.P. Joshi accompanied the Prime Minister. Dr. Singh was accorded a reception at the specially erected pandal by Union Ministers G.K. Vasan, K.V. Thomas, Mullappally Ramachandran, K.C. Venugopal, and E. Ahamed, State Ministers S. Sarma and C. Divakaran, Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy, Mayor Tony Chammany, MPs K.P. Dhanapalan and P.C. Chacko, MLAs V.K. Ibrahim Kunju, Dominic Presentation, K. Babu, and A.M. Yousuf, and district panchayat president Eldhose Kunnappally.

Director-General of Police Jacob Punnoose, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command K.N. Sushil, Public Administration secretary Manoj Joshi, State Protocol Officer K. Ajithkumar, District Collector M. Beena, and Inspector-General of Police (Ernakulam Range) R. Sreelekha were also present. Dr. Singh and his delegation then left for Taj Malabar Hotel for overnight stay.

The Prime Minister will leave for the inauguration of the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal by helicopter from the Naval Airport at 9.30 a.m. on Friday. Dr. Singh will attend the hour-long inaugural ceremony before leaving for Thiruvananthapuram from the Naval Airport at 11.35 a.m.

Dr. Singh will inaugurate the country's first international container transhipment terminal on Vallarpadam Island, near Kochi, on Friday.

He had laid the foundation stone for the project in 2005. The facility, built at a cost of more than Rs.3,200 crore, will meet the need for a transhipment terminal and a maritime cargo hub. India's sea-borne trade now depends on ports of Colombo, Salalah and Singapore for transhipment of containers. Indian exim business pays up to Rs.1,200 crore annually in transhipment charges at these foreign ports.

The facility will save money and transit time for containers headed to and from India.

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