President Draupati Murmu arriving in Srinagar today on 2-day visit

SRINAGAR: The security forces including J&K police and central armed police forces’ commandos and sharpshooters on Tuesday laid siege around the picturesque campus of the University of Kashmir in Srinagar’s Hazratbal area ahead of President Draupadi Murmu’s visit.

The President will preside over the 20th convocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s oldest collegiate public state university established in 1948 at its main campus located on the western side of the famed Dal Lake.

All the four entries into the campus were sealed by the armed personnel on Tuesday evening whereas the security in the adjoining residential area too has been beefed up after fanning out the reinforcements of the local police and Central armed police forces including the CRPF.

Earlier the residential houses in the neighbourhood of Naseem Bagh, Sadrabal and Kani Taar were searched by the columns of security forces as a security drill, the locals said. The official sources said that latest technology and security gadgets, including CCTV cameras and drones are being used to ensure no untoward incident takes place during the President’s visit to Srinagar.

The officials said that area domination exercises are under way in the Kashmiri capital including random checking of vehicles and patrolling of residential areas particularly those surrounding the University campus.

On Monday, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha chaired a meeting of top police and civil administration officials here to review the arrangements for the President’s J&K visit. The meeting was also attended by Prof. Nilofar Khan, Vice Chancellor of the University of Kashmir.

The President will during the first leg of her two-day visit to J&K interact with members of local tribal groups and women of self-help groups at Srinagar’s Raj Bhavan besides attending a civic reception to be hosted in her honour there.

On October 12, she will visit Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in the Trikuta hills near Jammu where she will inaugurate a remodelled Parvati Bhavan and skywalk, the official sources said.