President to visit Bengal, Andamans from Thursday

President Pranab Mukherjee will be on a five-day visit to West Bengal and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands from Thursday, an official release said.

During the trip (Jan 9-Jan 13), he will attend a series of events in both the states.

In Bengal, he will attend the 48th convocation of the Indian Statistical Institute on Friday followed by the inauguration of the 125th anniversary of the Chanchal Siddheswari Institution at Chanchal, Malda.

He will also launch a campaign at the Raj Bhavan on scientific understanding of posthumous body donation on the occasion of the 178th anniversary of the first dissection of human cadaver in Asia.

On Saturday, the president will present the Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award for the years 2012 and 2013 to Nirendranath Chakraborty and Sankha Ghosh, respectively, at the Raj Bhavan.

On the same day, he will travel to Port Blair where his programme begins with laying a wreath at Marty's Column at the National Memorial Cellular Jail and a civic reception at the Netaji Stadium.

On Sunday, Mukherjee will inaugurate the Andaman and Nicobar Tribal Research Institute in Port Blair.

The President will visit the Tsunami Memorial, Big Lapathy and the Mus Church, Car Nicobar on Sunday, where he will also interact with tribal council members at Car Nicobar's Passa Beach before returning to Delhi.