By IANS
Visakhapatnam : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived here Wednesday evening on a two-day visit to inaugurate the 95th session of the Indian Science Congress (ISC) that begins Thursday.
Singh flew in to this port city from New Delhi on a special IAF aircraft amid unprecedented security. Union minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal and top officials accompanied him.
On arrival, Singh was given a guard of honour by the Eastern Naval Command at the naval base (INS Dega) here. Among dignitaries present on the occasion were Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy and some of his cabinet colleagues.
Singh visited the maritime operation centre to spend some time on sea.
The venue of the five-day Science Congress – the sprawling Andhra University campus – has been fortified and sanitised by the Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel for the prime minister’s programme.
According to city police commissioner N Sambasiva Rao, about 5,600 police personnel, including 4,000 from the four coastal districts of the state, have been deployed to maintain vigil and ensure smooth conduct of the inaugural event.
Being held for the second time after a gap of 32 years, the mega science jamboree has received an overwhelming response, with a whopping 6,000 delegates from all over India and abroad registering for the brainstorming sessions over the next five days.
As a result, all star hotels, lodges, guesthouses in and around this coastal city have been booked to accommodate the delegates. Even hotels in the neighbouring towns of Anakapalle, Vizianagaram and Bobbilli were reserved to accommodate the scientists and students.
Roads leading to the campus will be cordoned off and traffic diverted till the inaugural function gets over Thursday afternoon to ensure smooth movement of VIP vehicles.
In addition, anti-sabotage teams, comprising bomb disposal squads, sniffer dog teams and metal detectors, have been pressed into service to ensure fool-proof security.