Prep begins in Mahabalipuram ahead of Modi-Xi meet

A delegation of Chinese officials on Friday inspected world heritage site monuments at Mahabalipuram including the famous shore temple ahead of the summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping, slated to be held here next month.

The Chinese delegation took stock of various aspects, including security and amenities and looked into the line-up of proposed events during the second edition of the informal summit between the Prime Minister Modi and the Chinese President, to be held from October 11 to 13.

"The delegation visited monuments, including Arjuna's penance, the shore temple and the huge boulder known as Krishna's butterball," officials said.

Krishna's butterball is a massive round boulder perched on a steep rock slope in this town.

This precariously balanced boulder is said to be a hunk of stolen butter dropped by the gods.

Senior Tamil Nadu government and Archaeological Survey of India officials accompanied the delegation and later discussed with Chinese officials, the contours of the summit.

"The Chinese side made some suggestions in respect of fine tuning exclusive amenities to President Xi at Mahabalipuram and it was accepted," an official who was privy to the discussions, said.

Later, a team of ASI officials led by senior official from New Delhi, Jahnwij Sharma inspected the monuments including the butter ball and Shore temple.

The officials discussed the line up of events like the monument to be visited first by top leaders and its complete line-up.

"Aspects like photo opportunity and sprucing up the location were discussed," the official said.