Heavy security in place ahead of PM's roadshow in Chennai today

Chennai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in Chennai on Tuesday evening to hold a roadshow at T-Nagar. He will be campaigning for the NDA candidates of Chennai Central, Chennai North and Chennai South constituencies.

BJP Chennai South candidate Tamilisai Soundararajan, Chennai North candidate RC Paul Kanagaraj and Chennai Central candidate Vinoj Selvam will participate in the roadshow with the Prime Minister.

The Greater Chennai Police has made elaborate security arrangements for the Prime Minister’s visit.

PM Modi will fly in a special aircraft from Maharashtra and arrive at 6.05 p.m. at the Chennai airport and will travel to T-Nagar by road. The Prime Minister’s roadshow will begin at 6.30 p.m. from Panagal Park in T-Nagar and will cross the Thiyagaraja Road or Pondy Bazar which is one of the busiest areas of Chennai.

The roadshow is expected to conclude around 7.30 p.m.

PM Modi will stay at the Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan for the night and proceed to Vellore, Coimbatore and Pollachi for electioneering on Wednesday.

The Greater Chennai City Traffic Police said, that from 3 p.m. onwards movement of vehicles at Thiyagaraya Road is strictly prohibited and the entire Thiyagaraya Road, Venkata Narayana Road, G.N. Chetty Road and North Boag Road have been declared as ‘no-parking zone’ until the completion of the roadshow.

Public and motorists are being cautioned about traffic slowdown which is likely to occur during the roadshow across the area, in and around the roadshow stretch, and surrounding area (GST Road, Mount Poonamallee Road, CIPET junction, 100-feet road, Anna Salai, S.V. Patel Road, Gandhi Mandapam Road and around T. Nagar) between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Commercial vehicles will be restricted on the following roads from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. intermittently — Pallavaram GST Road towards Kathipara, Mount Poonamallee Road towards Anna Salai, CIPET towards Anna Salai, Vadapalani towards T. Nagar, Valluvar Kottam, Kathipara flyover to Saidapet, CPT towards airport and Gandhi Mandapam, Tidel park to Gandhi Mandapam, Anna Statute towards mount road.

It may be recalled that the city police has already banned the flying of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles within its jurisdiction from March 1 to April 29.

On Wednesday morning, PM Modi will be campaigning in Vellore, Coimbatore, and Pollachi. As per a tentative plan, he will fly in a helicopter to Vellore and at 10.15 a.m. he will address a public meeting at Fort Ground. From there, he will reach Arakkonam by road and then will fly in a special aircraft to Coimbatore. At 1.30 p.m., the Prime Minister will address a public meeting in Pollachi.