PM to address Prini villagers on Atal’s birth anniversary

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 23

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address people of Manali and Prini village on December 25 through video-conferencing. A special function will be held here on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who considered Himachal his home and spent summer months here.

It is for the first time that a function of this scale is being organised in the memory of Vajpayee, who considered Prini village, on the outskirts of Manali, his home where his daughter Namrata and son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya own a cottage. Vajpayee penned many literary works in this idyllic location where he kept coming every summer till 2006.

“Though people of the village remember Vajpayeeji every year on his birthday, this time the PM was keen that a bigger function is held,” revealed Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur. “Since the PM will address the people, arrangements have been made at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Mountaineering Institute at Manali. Later, a function and ‘dham’ will be held in Prini.

Thakur said the Cabinet had moved a proposal to the Centre for naming the Rohtang Tunnel after Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “Modiji is very keen that Vajpayee’s memory is kept alive in Himachal as he considered himself a resident of the state,” said Thakur. He added that the former PM’s statue would be installed on The Ridge.

It was at a public meeting in Keylong that Vajpyee as PM had announced the construction of a tunnel under Rohtang Pass on May 24, 2002. The 8.8-km tunnel, almost nearing completion, would provide all weather connectivity.

Vajpayee shared a very close bond with the people of Prini village.