During the Himachal Pradesh visit, 4 staff members tested positive for COVID-19, President Ram Nath Kovind will stay at a personal hotel here instead of the presidential retreat, in which he normally stays, throughout his visit which starts from Thursday. The President throughout his 4-day visit to Himachal Pradesh will address a unique consultation of the state Assembly and will be the Chief visitor Valedictory Ceremony of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service on the National Academy of Audit and Accounts at Shimla, the official added.
He stated the President will live at Cecil hotel at Chaura Maidan here instead of The Retreat — the President’s house at Chharabra at the outskirts of Shimla. All folks who were available in the near touch with the President will have to deliver a COVID-19 RT-PCR negative report even though they were completely vaccinated towards the coronavirus, he added. Earlier, Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar informed the media on Tuesday that President Kovind will address the unique consultation of the state meeting on Friday at 11:00 am to mark the golden jubilee of Himachal Pradesh’s statehood.
Kovind will be the third President to address the Himachal Pradesh Assembly. Then presidents APJ Abdul Kalam and Pranab Mukherjee addressed the State Assembly in 2003 and 2013 respectively, he stated. Apart from the sitting MLAs, all of the former MLAs along with former CMs Shanta Kumar and Prem Kumar Dhumal was invited to attend the unique consultation, he added.
Around 93 former MLAs, along with Kumar and Dhumal, have given their consent to attend the unique consultation, the Speaker stated. Five MPs from the state and 7 former MPs will also attend the consultation, he stated.
