Light motor vehicles would not be allowed to take the Gaya-Dobhi road from GT Road from 8am on Saturday as precaution for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bodhgaya visit.

Within a week of chief minister Nitish Kumar and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal's visit to Mahabodhi Mahavihara for prayers, Modi is set to reach the shrine. He is scheduled to participate in a prayer with monks from across the globe and inaugurate the exhibition, Cetiya Carika The Dhamma Pilgrimage.

In preparation for the visit, the district administration has put in place traffic restrictions and prohibitions on vehicular movements on some stretches. For instance, entry of heavy vehicles on the Gaya-Dobhi road from Grand Trunk Road would be prohibited from 4am. Haj pilgrims flying out at 11am and 12.45pm on Saturday were even called to report at the Gaya International Airport on Friday evening to ban vehicular movement on the road leading up to it.

Accompanied by former Sri Lanka president Chandrika Kumaratunga, senior ministers from Japan, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal, Modi would arrive at the Gaya airport in an Indian airforce craft around 10.35am. His cavalcade would leave from a special gate of the airport.

According to the route plan issued by Gaya district magistrate Kumar Ravi, vehicles going to Ranchi would have to take Mufassil mor-GT Road route via Ghughritand bypass, Gaya-Bodhgaya riverside road, Rajapur bridge, Mohanpur and Barachatti.

For Aurangabad, vehicles would have to take GT Road via Sikaria mor, Cherki road and Sherghati. Apart from the Gaya-Dobhi road, entry of all vehicles would also be banned on the Sherghati-Cherki road.

Chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and director-general of police P.K. Thakur on Friday reviewed the security arrangements in Bodhgaya too. Security personnel conducted a mock drill at the World Heritage Site Mahabodhi Mahavihara, where Modi would stay around an hour.

The area surrounding Bodhgaya has been sanitised, including culverts and hotels, guesthouses and monasteries checked. The stretch from the airport to Bodhgaya has been barricaded as well, with at least 1,500 personnel deployed on the stretch and in the town.

Jawans have been tasked to keep vigil from the rooftops of houses falling along the road to be taken by the Prime Minister's cavalcade.