Varanasi, Dec 17 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the second edition of Kashi Tamil Sangamam at 'Namo Ghat' in Varanasi on Sunday.

The cultural festival will be held from December 17 to 30.

Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Union Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be present during the event.

On his two-day visit to his constituency, Prime Minister Modi will also inaugurate 37 projects worth over Rs 19,000 crore for Varanasi and Purvanchal. He will also flag off a new train from Kanyakumari to Varanasi.

"The preparations for PM Modi's visit are in the final stage. The preparations at the venues of his programs and his stay are also almost done. The main event is the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra," Varanasi Division Commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma said.

The first batch of the Tamil delegation, comprising around 1,400 people, left from Chennai on December 15. During their stay in Kashi, as per their tour itinerary, they will also visit Prayagraj and Ayodhya, an official release stated.

“The seven groups of Students (Ganga), Teachers (Yamuna), Professionals (Godavari), Spiritual (Saraswati), Farmers and Artisans (Narmada), Writers (Sindhu) and Traders and Businessmen (Kaveri) have been named after seven sacred rivers of India will travel from Chennai, Coimbatore and Kanyakumari to Kashi,” it stated.

The release stated that over 42,000 registrations were received during the time of registration that ended on December 8 and out of them, 200 people for each group were selected by the selection committee. The Union Ministry of Education will be the nodal agency for this event.

The first phase of the Kashi Tamil Sangamam was organised from November 16 to December 16, 2022, with the Ministry of Education working as the nodal agency, in which over 2,500 people from Tamil Nadu travelled to Kashi, Prayagraj and Ayodhya on an eight-day tour.