india

Updated: Sep 07, 2019 13:36 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a slew of metro projects in Maharashtra’s Mumbai and launched a metro coach built indigenously under the Make in India programme, in a visit that comes ahead of the assembly elections scheduled in October.

PM Modi inaugurated projects worth more than Rs 20,000 crore. Modi conducted the bhoomipoojan for metro line 10 (Gaimukh-Shivaji Chowk), line 11 (Wadala-Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) and line 12 (Kalyan-Taloja) and the proposed Metro Bhavan in Aarey.

The coach, the first in the list of 500 to be delivered to the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, has been built by Bharat Earth Movers (BEML) at its Bengaluru facility in flat 75 days. Maharashtra is pumping in over Rs 1.2 lakh crore to build 14 metro corridors stretching 337-km over the next decade.

“The Mumbai metro project will not only help to easing out commute for passengers but will also be a source of employment for a number of people as coaches of the new metro train will be made in India,” the Prime Minster said, sharing the dias with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who he addressed as his younger brother.

The Prime Minister added that the country has never seen ‘infrastructure projects progress at the scale and speed at which it is happening today’. “Did anyone even imagine that projects that were stuck for so long are already in progress? Be it the Navi Mumbai airport, the Mumbai trans harbour link or the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train - there are so many examples,” Modi said.

These three new lines take the total number of metro lines to 14 across the Mumbai metropolitan region. PM Modi also laid foundation for the 32-storey Metro Bhavan at the Aarey Colony, one of the two large green belts of the megapolis, against amid public criticism. The metro headquarters will be the integrated operations and control centre for the proposed 14 metro lines in and around Mumbai.

The Prime Minister started his Maharashtra visit with a ‘darshan’ of Lord Ganesha installed at the 96-year old Lokmanya Seva Sangh (LSS) in suburban Vile Parle, in Mumbai. The LSS was set up by the followers of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak on March 11, 1923, to build a socially vigilant, disciplined, cultured and progressive society.

Accompanied by Governor B.S. Koshyari and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Modi was received by LSS President Mukund Chitale, committee members Rashmi Fadanvis, Mahesh Kale, Uday Tardalkar and others.

The Prime Minister’s next stop is Aurangabad, the Nagpur-leg of his journey was postponed at the last minute on Friday owing to stormy weather conditions. At Aurangabad, Modi will dedicate the first phase of ‘state-of-the-art’ Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC), which is developed under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), at Shendra MIDC. State industries minister Subhash Desai confirmed that Modi will inaugurate the first phase of AURIC.