Boat race, kite festival sum up festive mood

Visakhapatnam: Colourful kites flying in myriad shapes, Indian Coast Guard helicopter slicing through the air, carrying the G20 Presidency flag and yellow and blue-tinted boats vying with one another along the coast offered a visual treat for people who took part in 'Jan Bhagidari', a curtain raiser programme of the second G20 Infrastructure Working Group Summit.

From Thursday noon to sunset, people of Visakhapatnam were treated to a variety of programmes that added to the festive mood. As Visakhapatnam is going to host the second G20 Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) meeting scheduled on March 28 and 29, 32 teams from all over the district participated in the boat race with each team comprising five members.

On Thursday, the 'Jan Bhagidari' was held in the presence of District Collector A Mallikarjuna, GVMC Commissioner P Raja Babu, among others. Later, Mayor G Hari Venkata Kumari took part in the prize distribution ceremony. Speaking on the occasion, the Mayor said the aim of 'Jan Bhagidari' was to involve people and make the summit a grand success.

Distributing prizes to the winners of the boat riding and kite festival at the RK Beach, the Mayor mentioned that delegates, officials and representatives from around 45 countries are arriving for the prestigious G20 Summit to be held in the city. The GVMC has already made all arrangements to make Visakhapatnam a beautiful city and provide a pleasant environment to the visiting delegates, she added.

Speaking on the occasion, GVMC Commissioner P Raja Babu said a number of programmes were organised to make people proactively involved. As part of that, many programmes would be organised on March 24 and 26, he added. Deputy Mayors Jiyyani Sridhar, K Satish, Additional Commissioners SS Varma, Y Srinivasa Rao, zonal commissioners and others participated in the programme.