Hyderabad gets ready for President’s farewell

President Pranab Mukherjee will be accorded an emotional farewell by his staff at Rashtrapathi Nilayam in Secunderabad when he hosts an “At Home” here on 30 December. The President is here to spend his annual two-week long southern sojourn since Thursday and will return to Rashtrapathi Bhawan in New Delhi on 31 December. The President’s term ends by July next year.

Though nowhere it is mentioned that this would be the last sojourn of the President in Hyderabad, the message is not lost on either side—the staff of the first citizen which coordinates his itinerary here or the staff of Rashtrapathi Nilayam which looks after his stay in Secunderabad. Even senior officials in Telangana government are treating this year’s tour of the President as something special.

“We came to know that the President had instructed his staff to allow who are interested in meeting him at Rashtrapathi Nilayam during his stay. This implies that the President is considering this year’s southern sojourn as the last one,” said a senior official in the General Administration Department (GAD) while talking to The Sunday Guardian.

The GAD takes care of the arrangements for the President’s stay at Rashtrapathi Nilayam, a sprawling bungalow built by the Nizams as Residency for British rulers in 1892. The architectural splendour is built on an area of 90 acres that include a 16-acre herbal garden. Compared to his predecessors, Mukherjee has not only spent more time but also made it a point to visit Rashtrapathi Nilayam every year in December.