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PM Modi in Pune: Sluggish outlook towards infrastructure till now hit growth
The Prime Minister flagged off the Pune metro rail project at Garware metro station and proceeded to take the metro ride to Anandnagar station, located nearly five km away
Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Pune Municipal Corporation and inaugurated a slew of development projects, including a 12 km stretch of the Pune Metro Rail Project, during his visit to the city on Sunday.
The Prime Minister, who landed at the Lohegaon International Airport here at10.30 am, began his tour by visiting the municipal corporation headquarters to unveil the 9.5-feet tall statue, which is made up of 1,850 kg of gunmetal. He also paid floral tributes to the statue of social reformer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule.
“Unveiled a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Pune. His life and ideals are a source of great inspiration,” he tweeted.
Following this, the Prime Minister flagged off the Pune metro rail project at Garware metro station and proceeded to take the metro ride to Anandnagar station, located nearly five km away, after buying himself a ticket from a kiosk.
Built at a cost of over ₹11,400 crore, Modi had laid the foundation stone for the metro project on December 24, 2016.
During the 10-minute ride, he also interacted with differently-abled students, some of them visually impaired, present inside the metro coach.
The Union government is proactively working on enhancing the means of the mass transport system at a rapid scale as India continues to witness rapid urbanisation, Modi said. “...Today, I got the opportunity to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of various projects. I am fortunate that I got the opportunity to lay the foundation stone of the Pune metro and today, you have invited me to inaugurate the project.”
“Earlier (during past governments), the foundation laying used to take place, but it was not known when the inauguration of the same project would take place,” he added.
Modi’s remarks came a day after Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar alleged that the Prime Minister would inaugurate an “an incomplete Metro project.”
The inauguration of the Pune metro project shows and sends across the message that projects can be completed on time, Modi said as he appealed to people to travel by metro trains.
“Metro will make mobility easy in Pune and it will give relief from traffic jams and pollution and increase the ease of living… I would like to appeal to people from all walks of life, especially the elite, to get used to travelling by metro… I want people from all classes to use the metro wherever the facility is available,” he said.
Besides these, the Prime Minister also attended the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Symbiosis University and addressed a public meet at MIT College Ground.
At Symbiosis University, Modi attributed the success of the ongoing ‘Operation Ganga’ to evacuate citizens stranded in war-torn Ukraine to India’s growing influence in the global arena.
“We are evacuating thousands of Indians safely from the war zone through Operation Ganga. It is due to India’s growing influence that it has brought thousands of students from the war zone of Ukraine back to their motherland,” he said.
Several big countries are facing difficulties in doing so for their citizens, he added.
Modi also urged the students to take full advantage of the opening of various sectors as India is the third-largest startup ecosystem of the world and the present generation is fortunate enough as it has not suffered the damaging impact of the earlier defensive and dependent psychology.
The Prime Minister virtually inaugurated a modern art gallery-cum-museum dedicated to legendary cartoonist R K Laxman, who passed away in 2015.
“I would like to congratulate Usha Laxman, (daughter-in-law of R K Laxman). Today a state-of-the-art gallery, dedicated to R K Laxman, has been inaugurated… I congratulate Ushaji and her family for their dedication, commitment and enthusiasm in completing this project,” he said during his inaugural speech at MIT College Ground.
Modi flagged off 150 electric buses manufactured by Olectra for public transport in Pune, and inaugurated a state-of-the-art electric bus depot and charging station in Baner. He also laid the foundation stone for Mula-Mutha river pollution abatement and riverfront development projects.
