Prime Minister arrives on two-day visit to Assam

Guwahati, Feb 18 (PTI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singharrived here today on a two-day visit to Assam during which hewill attend an award giving ceremony and review implementationof major Central government schemes in the state.

The prime minister was received at the LokapriyaGopinath International Airport by Governor J B Patnaik, ChiefMinister Tarun Gogoi and his Cabinet colleagues along withsenior officials of the state.

Soon after his arrival, Singh drove straight to AryaVidyapeeth where he is scheduled to inaugurate the school''sauditorium, constructed under his MP Local Area DevelopmentFund.

Mediapersons, however, were not provided with passesto cover this programme.

The prime minister is scheduled to present theFakhruddin Ali Ahmed Award to eminent Gandhian Hema Bharaliand journalist M J Akbar at a function at Pragjyoti Indian TeaAssociation (ITA) auditorium at Machkhowa here where he wouldalso lay the foundation of a water supply scheme.

Singh is also scheduled to meet Gogoi and members ofhis cabinet at Raj Bhawan to review the progress ofimplementation of centrally-sponsored schemes, officialsources said here.

Singh would visit Rampur in Kamrup (Rural) districttomorrow morning to inspect a scheme under the MP''s localarea development fund before leaving for Jorhat to lay thefoundation stone of National Institute of Design.

The prime minister is also scheduled to lay thefoundation stone of Rajiv Gandhi Petroleum Institute atSivasagar in the afternoon before returning to Jorhat fromwhere he will fly back to New Delhi in the evening.