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Clinton trip slashed, Naidu unhappy

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

Even as Hyderabad is being decked up at the cost of millions of rupees to receive its most famous VVIP guest - US President Bill Clinton -- on March 24, the much-hyped visit may turn out to be a damp squib.

The US president's stop-over in Hyderabad will be for a mere 2 hours and 45 minutes.

This is contrary to earlier indications of a day-long visit with the possibility of an overnight stay. "The itinerary is only tentative. We don't have an idea of what the final programme will be," a state government official said.

According to official sources, Clinton and his team will arrive at the Begumpet airport at 1230 IST on March 24.

Clinton will be accorded ceremonial reception at the airport by Governor C Rangarajan, Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, his ministerial colleagues and a few dignitaries. Thereafter, his motorcade will leave for Hitec City at Madhapur on the city outskirts.

Arriving at Hitec City at 1305 IST, Clinton's team will spend an hour at the Cyber Gates -- the 10-storeyed building that houses some of the world's and India's best known information technology companies and their software development centres.

Clinton is expected to take a stroll at the ground floor of the building and not get into any of the other floors. He will address about 200 top IT professionals at a meeting arranged by the Confederation of Indian Industry and visit a few stalls being put up by the major IT companies and others. He may also have a brief interaction with the media.

The US president's entourage will leave the Hitec City at 1405 IST to visit a city hospital -- either the AP Hospital for Chest Diseases (TB hospital) at Erragadda or the Mahavir Hospital at A C Guards.

Arriving at the hospital at 1435 IST, Clinton will make a quick round of the place and grace a function to mark the World Tuberculosis Day and leave for the Begumpet airport. The entourage will arrive at Begumpet at 1500 IST and leave for Bombay at 1515 IST.

Bill Clinton and his team will hardly have any time to check into any hotel. "They will come and go. They will not have the time to stay in any hotel, with the duration of the stop-over being reduced to less than three hours now. We are told that the US President and his delegation will have their lunch aboard the plane before alighting at Hyderabad," the official sources pointed out.

The chief minister briefed his ministerial colleagues during a cabinet meeting on the proposed visit of Clinton and the likely itinerary of the visiting dignitary.

Naidu told his colleagues that the state government proposed to show short films of one-minute duration on four or five developmental programmes taken up in the state to Clinton and his entourage.

Naidu reportedly expressed unhappiness over the curtailment of the US president's stop-over in the city even as the government has spent lot of money to make elaborate arrangements for the visit.

Notwithstanding the shrinking itinerary of the VVIP visitor, the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad is pulling out all the stops to deck up the city for the March 24 event.

"We are not spending huge amounts on giving a facelift to the city. We have only advanced the implementation of improvement works in view of the VVIP's visit. The MCH is incurring an expenditure of less than Rs 1 crore," a top civic official said.

The official discounted the reports that Rs 70 to Rs 100 million has been earmarked for the arrangements for the US president's stop-over. He, however, admitted that he was not aware of the expenditure being incurred by other departments, including the roads and buildings department.

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