Keshubhai Patel reappointed Somnath temple trust chairman

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.

Somnath (Gujarat), Mar 8: 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. Modi, who is one of the trustees, performed puja at the Somnath temple on Wednesday.

[Narendra Modi offers prayers at Somnath temple]

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 at 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 the development of the place of pilgrimage.

"Under the Central government's PRASAD scheme, we intend to build a facilitation centre for a 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. PRASAD is a 'National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive' launched by the Central government.

During the meeting, a discussion was also held on setting up a high-tech museum and building a walk way along the sea shore near Somnath temple. "We have discussed a project to build a walk way along with sea shore near Somnath to enable people to have a peaceful stroll. The Centre would give approval to the project after it gets environmental clearance," he said. "The trustees also discussed a project to set up a virtual reality museum," Lahiri added.

PTI