Atal Bihari Vajpayee passes away: Hundreds of people queue outside leader's residence; some travel from other states to pay last respects

New Delhi: Hundreds of people queued up outside the residence of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Delhi on Friday morning to pay their last respects to the departed leader. Heavy security arrangements, including the deployment of police, traffic and paramilitary personnel, were in place around the 6-A Krishna Menon Marg bungalow in the Lutyens, Delhi. [caption id=“attachment_4982821” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of late former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Reuters[/caption] According to security officials present, the gates of the residence were to be thrown open at 7.30 am for the public to pay homage to Vajpayee. The mortal remains would later be taken to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s national headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg. The final journey to the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal will begin around 1 pm. Vajpayee died at the AIIMS hospital on Thursday at the age of 93, following a prolonged illness. A 52-year-old man, Yogesh Kumar, arrived here with a group of people from Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand. The group covered a distance of around 500-km overnight in the hope to have one last glimpse of their beloved leader, Kumar said. “I had met Vajpayeeji in 1984 when he had visited Uttarkashi en-route to Gangotri. He visited the town once again in 1986,” Kumar claimed, as he displayed a picture of the Vajpayee with him. “I have also brought along the Gangajal from Gangotri,” he said, hoping to find an opportunity to see him. Another man, in his early 20s, said he had come all the way from Bihar to pay homage to the former prime minister. “I believe we have lost a great leader in him,” he said.