Amravati (Maharashtra):President Pratibha Patil will pay a two-day visit to Maharashtra's Amravati district this weekend, her second visit in a year after assuming the country’s highest office.

The president will arrive in Achalpur near here Saturday at 11.50 a.m. from Nagpur by an Indian Air Force chopper to restart the 75-year-old Vidarbha Cotton Mill under the private management of Finley Mills and receive various delegations at the Circuit House here in the evening, according to an official press release.

After an overnight stay at Amravati, the president is slated to flag off a twice-a-week Amravati-Mumbai train at 3.15 p.m. Sunday and lay the foundation stone for "transformation of the existing Amravati railway station in the city into a model railway station", the statement said.

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Union Textiles Minister Shankarsinh Waghela and Kerala Governor R.S. Gavai will attend the functions along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil and Finance Minister Jayant Patil.

The function in the city will be held at the Zila Stadium, from where the president will flag off the train by remote control. She will return to New Delhi the same evening via Nagpur.

Patil had visited Amravati in October last year - three months after becoming India’s first woman president and had accepted a reception by the municipal corporation of which her husband Devisingh Shekhawat was the first mayor.
Source : IANS