Surat: BJP supporters and PM Narendra Modi’s followers in the city are targeting the lighting of around 10 lakh lamps on Thursday as part of celebrations marking his 76th birthday.As part of the large-scale initiative, 60,000 lamps will be lit across 30 temples in 30 wards. In addition, 3.06 lakh lamps will be illuminated at 3,000 booths across different wards, with BJP workers lighting 100 lamps at each booth. Another 3.80 lakh lamps are expected to be lit at 7,600 Ganesh mandaps, with 50 lamps at each venue.The celebrations will also mark Sep 17 as ‘Seva Diwas’, with a citywide grand ‘Maha Aarti’ and special discount offers at commercial establishments. The ‘Maha Aarti’ will be conducted at 8,921 locations across Surat, including Ganesh mandaps, religious sites, institutions, housing societies and neighbourhood groups.Under the ‘Seva Sankalp Abhiyan-2026’, a series of programmes will be organised across Surat over one month to mark Modi’s 25 years of public service. As part of the campaign, the ‘Aashirwad No Deevdo’ programme has been scheduled for Thursday at various iconic and religious locations across the city.Alongside the lamp-lighting ceremonies, several welfare initiatives have also been planned by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi. As part of the celebrations, 2,152 establishments across Surat will offer special discounts ranging from 5% to 76%, effectively turning the day into a “discount festival.”Participating establishments include hospitals, medical stores, diagnostic laboratories, hotels and restaurants, mobile retailers, supermarkets, food outlets, bakeries, dairies, sweet shops, farsan and namkeen outlets, garment stores, hair salons and vegetable vendors.
