Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil the plaque of a cultural centre to be built with Indian assistance in Jaffna on March 14.

Mr. Modi, in the first state visit to Sri Lanka by an Indian Prime Minister in nearly three decades, will travel to the war-torn Northern Province of the island nation.

The cultural centre will serve as a space connecting people through the arts and culture, official sources said. The event will be held at the adjoining Jaffna Public Library, a historic structure torched by a mob during riots in 1981.

The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Mr. Modi would hand over houses constructed as part of the 50,000 built under an Indian housing scheme to beneficiaries in Jaffna and flag off train services from Talaimannar to Colombo restored with Indian assistance.

The Prime Minister will visit the ancient town of Anuradhapura and the Sri Maha Bodhi tree, which Buddhists consider sacred with the legend that it grew out of a branch transported from Bodh Gaya in India centuries ago.

On his first day in Sri Lanka, the Prime Minister will address a special sitting of the Sri Lankan Parliament in Colombo and pay homage at the memorial to Indian Peace Keeping Force personnel, the Foreign Ministry statement said.

Source: TH