Bangladesh President to reach Meghalaya on Friday

Shillong, March 8 (IANS) Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid will arrive in Meghalaya on Friday and visit Balat, a border town near the India-Bangladesh border, an official said on Thursday.   Hamid is on a five-day visit to India. He will later visit New Delhi to attend the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Summit to be held on March 11.   "President Hamid will visit Balat area where he set up a camp for Bangladeshi youths taking part in the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971," Peter S. Dkhar, the District Magistrate of East Khasi Hills, told IANS.   Balat is 74 km by road from Meghalaya's capital Shillong.   "Two helicopters of Indian Air Force will take President Hamid and his entourage to Balat and then to Shillong," the official said.   After his arrival in Shillong, Hamid is scheduled to visit the bungalow of Bidhan Chandra Roy (Bengal Chief Minister between 1948 and 1962) and Sidli House, where Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore stayed during his third visit in 1927.   Hamid will spend the night at Meghalaya Raj Bhavan, wherein Governor Ganga Prasad will host dinner for the visiting guest.   Chief Minister Conrad Sangma will meet the Bangladesh President and hold discussions on business trade relation between Meghalaya and Bangladesh.