Gujarat govt wakes up just in time to host Clinton

Gujarat govt wakes up just in time to host Clinton
JANYALA SREENIVAS

AHMEDABAD, MARCH 27: During his maiden tour of India in 1998, the then US President Bill Clinton casually asked where Dholivara -- the 5,000-year-old Harappan civilisation site in Kutch -- was. Armed with spades, maps and zeal, the Gujarat government put up lamp poles overnight on freshly laid dirt tracks leading to Dholavira and flew in a special team of Archaeological Survey of India experts for Clinton.

It's another thing that Clinton never came. Now, as he readies to visit the quake affected areas of Gujarat, it seems the `former president' prefix has got to the Gujarat Government. Though newspapers have been teeming with reports of Clinton's trips to Bhuj and Ahmedabad, the state administration woke up barely a week before the scheduled visit on April 4 and 5.

``We have also seen the news reports, but we have no official intimation of the visit,'' said Ahmedabad Police Commissioner P C Pande on Monday night.

By Tuesday night though, Minister of State for Protocol Bharat Barot had confirmed the visit. The government has now declared Clinton a ``state guest''.

``We have just received intimation from the Vice-chairperson of the American-Indian Foundation Mike Patel that Ahmedabad and Bhuj have been added to Clinton's itinerary,'' said Barot. Clinton will also stop over in Mumbai and Kolkata.

According to the itinerary released by Mike Patel, Clinton, who is the foundation's chairperson, will arrive from Mumbai at Ahmedabad around 11 a m on April 4. He is expected to be received by Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel.

He will stay at Taj Ummed Residency there. After a night halt in Ahmedabad, he will fly to Bhuj in Kutch on April 5.

However, neither Kutch collector Anil Mukim nor Additional District Superintendent of Police Himanshu Bhatt knew of Clinton's impending visit till Tuesday evening. ``If he is coming, we're supposed to arrange for security cover. But till now, we are unaware of any such development,'' Bhatt told The Indian Express.

Clinton's travelling with a 30-member team of NRIs. The foundation hopes to raise at least US $ 5 million earthquake rehabilitation in Gujarat. According to Raju Bhatt, who is coordinating Clinton's visit to Gujarat, the foundation will adopt 100 villages in Kutch.

A 15 member US Secret Service detail will provide security cover to Clinton, with some help from a satellite which will monitor movements within a three-km radius of the former president. Amsterdam-based US security personnel will also thrown a cordon around the President.