The coastal town of Mamallapuram on the shores of Bay of Bengal near Chennai has been spruced up for the high-profile Indo-China summit. With just three more days to go for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping's informal summit on October 11 and 12, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has closed the monuments in the historical ancient port town for tourists and public from Tuesday till Saturday.
Parts of Chennai and Mamallapuram have been brought under tight security and the ASI has issued a notice saying the monuments at Mamallapuram will be temporarily closed down for the tourists and public, to facilitate the visit of Modi and Xi. Monuments including Arjuna’s penance, five rathas, shore temple and Krishna’s butterball will be closed as the leaders are expected to take a round here. “In exercise of powers conferred under Rule 5 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological sites and Remains Rules, 1959, entry to public is suspended (in the group of monuments Mahabalipuram) from 08.10.2019 to till the completion of VVIP visit due to security reasons,” said an order issued by ASI.
While the summit is to be held at a seven-star luxury hotel by the bay, on the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) at Kovalam, 20 kms East of Chennai, the two leaders are expected to visit the monuments at Mamallapuram. The Chinese President is expected to stay at the ITC grand Chola, a seven-star property owned by the ITC group, at Guindy in Chennai. The two leaders are expected to have a long walk along the beach, visit the centuries-old monuments at Mamallapuram, and watch cultural performance. During the two-day stay here, the duo will spend about seven hours together and have four meetings and two events lined up. Xi is expected to land at 1.30pm on Friday and leave the same time the next day. Modi and Xi are expected to spend five hours at the meetings and another two hours by the bay at the cultural monuments.
The informal summit will begin at 5pm on Friday, with an hour-long tour of the ancient monuments, followed by a cultural programme. Modi will then host a private dinner for Xi at the shore temple. The 75-minute-long dinner is expected to be a one-on-one between Modi and Xi.
Meanwhile, sources said Modi has extended invitation to senior leaders in Tamil Nadu, including Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisami and opposition leader M.K. Stalin.
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After the dinner meet, Xi will return to his hotel at Guindy in Chennai. On Saturday, the meeting will begin at 10am with an informal 40-minute chat between the two leaders in the gardens by the bay at a seven-star resort on the OMR. Also, a formal delegation-level talks between the two countries will happen at the same venue at the next level. Modi is also expected to hold talks with Xi at the same resort over lunch on Saturday. After the lunch meeting, Xi will leave Chennai for China.
The Tamil Nadu police have brought the entire OMR region under their control and security has been beefed up. The police have brought parts of the city under security scanner by checking every vehicle and imposing blanket ban on surfing and all water activities along the 20-km stretch on Bay of Bengal from Kovalam to Mamallapuram.
