Narendra Modi in Maharashtra: PM conducts bhoomipujan for Navi Mumbai international airport

The Prime Minister was greeted with chants of “Modi! Modi!” by hundreds of people who had assembled at Navi Mumbai for the programme

Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the Navi Mumbai international airport at Ulwe at 4.10 pm on Sunday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at the ground breaking ceremony for the Navi Mumbai International Airport at Ulwe on Sunday. (Bachchan Kumar)

He was accompanied by Union minister for shipping, Nitin Gadkari; Union minister for civil aviation, P Ashok Gajapathi Raju; Maharashtra governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

GVK Reddy, chairman and founder of Indian conglomerate GVK, was also present at the occasion.The GVK-led Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) firm has bagged the rights to construct the Rs16,000 crore airport.

The Prime Minister was greeted with chants of “Modi! Modi!” by hundreds of people who had assembled for the programme. Local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders had been holding meetings over the past few days to ensure the presence of a huge crowd for Modi’s first visit to the region.

Modi also inaugurated the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust’s fourth container terminal, christened Bharat Mumbai Container Terminal. The terminal has been developed by Singapore’s PSA International.