Presidential Fleet Review spruces up Vizag

Visakhapatnam: Six years ago, it was the International Fleet Review (IFR). Now, it is the Presidential Fleet Review followed by Milan-2022 which is giving Visakhapatnam a complete makeover.

Such events not only push the brand value of the port city several notches up but also punctuate the beauty of the coastal city way higher.

Along with the roads, the major events aided in taking up extensive beautification tasks and a host of repair works plus development of new infrastructure.

Special focus is paid on sprucing up the roads, medians, footpaths and other infrastructure along the routes that stretch from Visakhapatnam Airport to RK Beach and INS Dega to Beach Road. Vizag gets a fresh look as extensive care has been taken in accentuating its scenic beauty. The drab walls along the roads have been replaced with colourful murals, pots of fresh plants line up the roads instead of dried ones, the dust-laced medians get a fresh coat of paint, the trees and plants along the highway are well-trimmed, road signages and markings get polished.

For weeks, the staff of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, VMRDA, revenue and other departments are constantly monitoring the assigned tasks and making sure they get wrapped up in time.

While GVMC took up development and repair work to the tune of Rs 8 crore, VMRDA has taken up repair work of TU-142 Aircraft Museum, INS Kursura Museum and others to the tune of Rs 1.2 crore plus greenery development for Rs 40 lakh.

As the city is witnessing development activity in every nook and corner ahead of the major events of the Indian Navy, the platform has eventually created more work for the people of other districts as well.

Be it the gardening work or the painting job or beautification exercise, workers from North Andhra districts along with neighbouring places have been engaged in various tasks.

From the time of the arrival of the VVIPs and the VIPs to the moment the events conclude, stringent security arrangements are in place.

The police department is pulling out all stops to ensure that there are no security lapses as President Ram Nath Kovind, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Centre and state cabinet ministers and other top officials are arriving to witness the events in the city.

Owing to security reasons, hawkers and small vendors have been steered clear of the beach road footpaths and other places for the past few days.

After experiencing Covid-induced losses for a long time, the occupancy in star hotels is recording an all-time high in the city.

With the major events being lined up one after the other, the city is all spruced up.