New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to flood-hit Srinagar for Diwali on Thursday will be packed with meetings, officials say.
After landing in Srinagar in the afternoon, the prime minister is expected to go to the Raj Bhawan where he will meet families affected by the flood last month, the worst that Jammu and Kashmir has seen in 100 years.
PM Modi will reportedly review rehabilitation measures and visit a relief camp. He is expected to announce a central package for flood victims before flying back to Delhi in the evening.
This will be his fourth visit to Jammu and Kashmir since taking charge as prime minister in May.
Yesterday, PM Modi had tweeted, "Will be in Srinagar on Diwali, 23d October & will spend the day with our sisters & brothers affected by the unfortunate floods."
Close to 300 died and more than 1.5 million people were affected by the floods in Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Modi visited Srinagar once before to survey the large-scale damage.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, "Let's just appreciate that @narendramodi is in Srinagar on his festival & not at home celebrating as he normally would have been doing (sic)."
The Election Commission has indicated that Jammu and Kashmir is fit to hold elections due by December, though Mr Abdullah's National Conference had recommended deferring the process saying much infrastructure had been destroyed by the flood.
All other parties have reportedly told Election officials that the polls should be held on time.
In the five months since he became Prime Minister, PM Modi, 64, has used most major holidays to connect with the masses.
On Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary on October 2, he launched the "Swachh Bharat" or Clean India campaign close to his heart and picked up a broom for a symbolic clean-up of a road in the heart of Delhi.
On Dussehra, PM Modi addressed the nation on radio.