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Mural art, road repairs: Rajkot undergoes massive makeover ahead of PM Modi’s visit to inaugurate Vibrant Gujarat Regional Conference

PM Modi’s visit to Gujarat will begin at Prabhas Patan on January 10, and the Vibrant Gujarat Regional Conference is expected to give an industrial boost to the Saurashtra-Kutch region.

4 min readRajkotUpdated: Jan 9, 2026 01:18 AM IST

rajkot being decked up for VGRC and PM visit

Rajkot being decked up for VGRC and PM's visit. (Source: Express Photo)

Rajkot city has undergone a complete makeover, with roads and pavements repaired, walls painted, and a general sprucing up as it readied to host the Vibrant Gujarat Regional Conference that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate on January 11. This is the city from where Modi fought and won his first Assembly election in 2002.

On January 10, Modi will first head to Prabhas Patan for the Somnath Swabhiman Parv, celebrating the 1,000-year resilience of the temple against the first attack in 1026 AD. He will then head to Rajkot to the Marwadi University, where the second Vibrant Gujarat regional conference focusing on the Saurashtra-Kutch region is being held.

A statement from the Gujarat Government said, “Preparations have been made on a war footing. Repairs and strengthening have been accelerated on the city’s main roads. Along with this, the walls are being painted with artistic motifs everywhere to enhance the beauty of the city.”

It said that the organisation of the Vibrant Gujarat Regional Conference in the coming days will open new doors for global investment in the industry and trade sectors of Saurashtra.

The walls of the city's main roads and public places have been decorated with pictures and slogans of Gujarat Government campaigns

The walls of the city’s main roads and public places have been decorated with pictures and slogans of the Gujarat Government campaigns. (Source: Express Photo)

“Under the guidance of Mayor Shri Nayana Pedhadiya, the municipal corporation departments have been carrying out works like paver block repair, asphalt patching, asphalt re-carpeting, divider repair, cement concrete paving, divider colouring, mural art, sculpture colouring on each road as per the requirement for about the last one month,” it said.

Infra development in each zone of Rajkot

In the East Zone of Rajkot city, Greenland Chowk, Velnathpara Bridge Divider, and Kaiser-e-Hind Bridge have been painted, and paver blocks have been laid on Kuvadwa Road.

In the West Zone, which includes Raiya Road, Nana Mauva Road, Kalavad Road, and Mawadi Road, numerous significant repairs and improvements have been made. The completed work includes over 16 km of paver block repairs, more than 6 km of asphalt patches, over 12 km of asphalt re-carpeting, more than 10 km of divider repairs, 1 km of cement concrete paving, over 7 km of divider painting, and more than 45 km of mural artwork.

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In the Central Zone of Rajkot city, repairs to paver blocks and colouring of dividers have been completed on several key roads, including Race Course Ring Road, from Sheetal Park Chowk to Ayodhya Chowk, and from Radhe Circle to Gondal Chowkdi. Also, work has been done on the Sorathiyawadi Circle to Anandnagar. Dividers have also been painted on Raiya Road, Shroff Road, Akashwani Road, and Phulchhab Road.

Further improvements include painting the Amrapali Underbridge and the Hospital Chowk Bridge, as well as asphalt re-carpeting in Vivekanand Society, Pradyuman Nagar Road, Gosaliya Marg, Geetgurjari Main Road, and Niranjani Society Main Road.

Paver block repairs have also been carried out from Jubilee Chowk to Trikon Bagh, from Trikon Bagh to Nagarik Bank, and from Bhaktinagar Station to Mahila College Road, along with work from Zilla Panchayat to the Mahila College Underbridge Circle.

The walls of the city’s main roads and public places have been decorated with pictures and slogans of Gujarat Government campaigns, including ‘Ghar nu ghar samriddhi no aadhar’, ‘Beti bachao, beti padhao‘, ‘Swachh Bharat, Swachh Gujarat’, ‘Jal ej jeevan’, ‘Pariyavaran jaadavvo, jeevan bachao’.

Brendan Dabhi

Brendan Dabhi works with The Indian Express, focusing his comprehensive reporting primarily on Gujarat. He covers the region's most critical social, legal, and administrative sectors, notably specializing at the intersection of health, social justice, and disasters. Expertise Health and Public Policy: He has deep expertise in healthcare issues, including rare diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), the complex logistics of organ transplants, and public health challenges like drug-resistant TB and heat health surveillance. His on-ground reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic and Mucormycosis was critical in exposing healthcare challenges faced by marginalized communities in Gujarat. Social Justice and Legal Administration: He reports on the functioning of the legal and police system, including the impact of judicial philosophy, forensics and crucial administrative reforms (. He covers major surveillance and crackdown exercises by the Gujarat police and security on the international border. Disaster and Crisis Management: His work closely tracks how government and civic bodies respond to large-scale crises, providing essential coverage on the human and administrative fallout of disasters including cyclones, floods, conflict, major fires and reported extensively on the AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad. Civic Infrastructure and Governance: Provides timely reports on critical civic failures, including large scale infrastructure projects by the railways and civic bodies, as well as the enforcement of municipal regulations and their impact on residents and heritage. ... Read More

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