G20 meeting in Patna shifted from March to June: Official

New Delhi: A G20 meeting in Patna which was earlier slated to take place early March has now been planned to be held in June, according to a senior official.

India assumed the presidency of the influential bloc on December 1. Over 200 meetings are planned to be hosted at 55 locations across the country.

"A meeting of G20 was earlier scheduled to be held in the first week of March. But, the date has now been changed, and it is planned to be held sometime in June," a senior official of the Bihar government told PTI.

The G20 meeting in Patna is to be held on the labour track, and several delegates are expected to take part in it.

Meanwhile, various state government departments and district administration are gearing up for the key event in the Bihar capital, sources said.

The venue for the meeting in Patna has not been decided yet, they said.

The Bihar art and culture department has been made the nodal agency for the G20 event, and plans are afoot to give the delegates a pleasant experience during their visit to Patna.

"We plan to take the delegates to the old Patna Museum and the modern Bihar Museum for cultural visits, besides the main event. If they wish to go to Nalanda or some other historic sites, we will keep that in consideration too while planning," the official said.

Patna is a historic city that sits on the site of the ancient Pataliputra, the capital of the Mauryan Empire.

From big metros to smaller cities, including those rich in history and scenic beauty such as Hampi and Khajuraho, India has planned to host the G20 meetings at these 55 locations across the country during its year-long presidency.

Top officials of the tourism ministry have said that the idea behind choosing historic cities, among other places, to host meetings is to put a “spotlight on heritage sites”.