British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will arrive in Ahmedabad on Thursday morning as part of his two-day India visit, and will be accorded a grand welcome on a four-km route from the city airport to a hotel, officials said.
In the city, Johnson will visit the Gandhi Ashram, and later go to Gujarat Biotechnology University, Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar and also a plant of JCB company at Halol near Vadodara city. During the day, he is also scheduled to hold a closed-door meeting with a leading businessman from the state, sources said.
Johnson will land at the Ahmedabad airport around 8 am. On his arrival, he will be welcomed by dancing troupes and people along the four-km route in the city. The roadshow will commence from outside the airport and reach Ashram Road via Dafnala and Riverfront, officials of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation said on Wednesday.
Around 40 platforms have been erected at regular intervals on the four-km stretch from the airport circle to a five star hotel on Ashram Road, where troupes will perform traditional Indian dance, they said.
Nearly 20,000 people are expected to welcome him by standing along the route, the officials said, adding that the British PM will visit Gandhi Ashram at around 10 am after finishing the roadshow.
Sources said that Johnson would then hold a closed-door meeting with a well known businessman from Gujarat at his office on the outskirts of Ahmedabad city.
Later during the day, he is scheduled to visit a manufacturing facility of JCB, a British construction equipment firm, near Halol town of Panchmahal district.
The British PM will visit the campus of under-construction Gujarat Biotechnology University in Gandhinagar as the varsity is coming up in cooperation with the UK's University of Edinburgh, a Gujarat government release said.
Sources said the British PM would visit the famous Akshardham temple of Swaminarayan sect in Gandhinagar before winding up his Gujarat visit and leave for New Delhi.
In Delhi, Johnson will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.
