Prez to land at night to avoid inconvenience to Mumbaikars

Mindful of the inconvenience daily commuters are put to during VIP movements, President Pratibha Patil has not only decided to land here in the night to watch tomorrow's Cricket World Cup final but also directed her motorcade to be short.

"Cognizant of the problems faced by the people during VIP movements, particularly in Mumbai, the President has decided to land in Mumbai after 9 PM tonight and issued instructions for her convoy to be short," President's Officer on Special Duty Archana Dutta told PTI from Delhi.

In order to avoid any inconvenience to the commuters, Rashtrapati Bhavan has asked the authorities to close the route to be taken by Patil only five minutes before her arrival and open it immediately after the convoy has passed.

The President has asked for most of the cars in her convoy to be replaced by mini-buses so that more officials can travel in a single vehicle, she said.

Several dignitaries including Patil, her Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajpaksa, besides senior BJP leader L K Advani, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and a host of union ministers are expected to watch the final of Cricket's biggest extravaganza.