RAUTAHAT: In line with the plans to offer civic felicitation to former King Gyanendra Shah during his visit to Matsari, Rautahat on Friday, the Durga Bhagwati Temple in Rautahat’s Durga Bhagwati Rural Municipality has concluded all necessary preparations.

According to the Durga Temple Prayer Committee, Shah will visit the temple and offer his prayers on Friday noon.

Likewise, the temple has plans to offer civic felicitation to former King Gyanendra Shah with recitals of Vedic chants.

“Although the monarchy befell more than a decade ago, it is for the first time that a member from the erstwhile rulers (Shah Dynasty) has decided to visit the temple,” Committee Treasurer Ram Bharos Jha said, “The locals are in good spirits about the former king’s visit.”

The locals will visit the temple in flocks to see the former king offering prayers as a common man and to felicitate him, claimed Jha.

Interestingly, the Matsari Village in Rautahat has a sui generis spot in country’s political history particularly with its contribution to democracy. During the Panchayat System, the village had housed national figures and revolutionaries like Ganesh Man Singh, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Man Mohan Adhikari among others prior to the Jana Andolan-I in 1990.