PM Modi addresses gathering at foundation stone laying ceremony of three metro lines in Mumbai
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the first coach for Mumbai Metro built under the ‘Make in India’ programme.
After landing in Mumbai, PM Modi went for a ‘darshan of Lord Ganesha at the 96-year-old Lokmanya Seva Sangh at Vile Parle in Mumbai.
The overall expenditure for three more metro corridors is worth over Rs 19,000 crore in Mumbai.
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.
The prime minister visited Lokmanya Seva Sangh Tilak Mandir in Vile Parle. Modi to perform Bhoomi puja (ground-breaking) for the controversial Metro Bhavan in Aarey Colony area, considered to be the green lung of the city by the environmental activists. Assembly elections are due in Maharashtra in October.
Activists have slammed the Maharashtra government's decision to build the main crashed of the metro project and a casting yard in Aarey Colony, adjacent to Sanjay Gandhi National Park, which will require felling of thousands of trees.
There were protests against planned tree-cutting earlier this week. The three metro projects -- all elevated lines -- that Modi will announce are 9.2-km Gaimukh-Shivaji Chowk (Mira Road) metro-10 corridor; 12.8-km Wadala-CST metro-11corridor and 20.7-km Kalyan-Taloja metro-12 corridor.
The 32-storey Metro Bhavan, which will be the integrated operations and control centre for the proposed 14 metro lines in and around Mumbai, is proposed to be built on a 20,387 sq mt plot with a developable area of 1,14,088 sq mt within Aarey Colony.
Of the total developable area, the Metro Bhavan will consume 24,293 sq mt of forest land, the metro training institute will come upon 9,624 sq mt and another 80,171 sq mt of the green cover will be consumed for other metro-related works.
The Metro Bhavan is expected to completed in 36 months, while the three metro lines are scheduled for completion by 2026.
Besides these, Modi will also inaugurate the first metro coach manufactured by the state-run Bharat Earth Movers at its Bengaluru facility in flat 75 days.
The state-run Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has ordered over 500 such coaches for the first few lines of the metro including the Dahisar-DN Nagar metro-2A and Andheri (East)-Dahisar (East) metro-7 corridors, which will be completed soon.
Maharashtra government has decided to create a 337-km long metro network involving 14 lines across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) over four-five years, investing more than Rs 1 lakh crore.
Of these, civil works on six corridors -- the Dahisar-DN Nagar metro-2A corridor, DN Nagar-Mandale metro-2B corridor, Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ metro-3 corridor, Wadala-Kasarvadavli metro-4 corridor, Swami Samarth Nagar-Vikhroli metro-6 corridor and Andheri (East) to Dahisar (East) metro-7 corridor--have already begun.
"This 139-km metro network promises to carry over 50 lakh commuters every day. And now, we are undertaking 42.6-km of additional metro work with three more corridors," MMRDA said in a statement.
The prime minister will also inaugurate the Bandongri metro station on the Andheri (East)-Dahisar (East) metro-7. Modi will also visit Aurangabad in central Maharashtra and dedicate the AURIC (Aurangabad industrial city) Shendra project. He will also address a state-level women's self-help groups' conference being organized by Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission.
AURIC is one of the country's greenfield smart industrial cities, being developed over an area of 10,000 acres and is a part of the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor.
However, Modi's plan to inaugurate an 11-km Nagpur metro line has been cancelled due to heavy rain forecast in Maharashtra's second capital.
A statement from Maha Metro, the implementing authority for Nagpur metro, said, "due to heavy rain forecast, PM's visit to Nagpur has been cancelled."
Here are live updates on PM Modi's visit to Maharashtra:
12: 55 pm | PM Modi bats for plastic-free Ganpati celebrations
“We must resolve to avoid materials like plastic that give way to water pollution during Ganpati visarjan,” the Prime Minister said and added that after the celebrations to Mumbaikars must resolve to make the Mithi river and other water bodies plastic-free.
12: 46 pm | Government completes 100 days, historical goals achieved
From Jal Jivan Mission to MSP for farmers or from criminalising Triple Talaq to POCSO act, the government is working hard religiously. The government achieved historical goals within 100 days only.
12: 45 pm | Cost-effective Mumbai Metro
"The project and the new metro corridors will make the lives of the people much easier assures PM Modi". "Infrastructure and economy are inter-related and are we will be working to make the Mumbai metro cost-effective," said Prime Minister Modi
12: 41 pm | This government has completed 100 days and achieved historical goals. In the last five years, the Fadvanis government has worked really hard towards the improvement and development of infrastructure in 'Aamchi Mumbai': PM Modi
12:40 pm | Inspired by the courage and resolve shown by our ISRO scientists
"I was really inspired by the courage and resolve shown by our ISRO scientists. How to work towards your aim irrespective of big challenges is what I learnt from them. They will not stop striving till they reach the target," Modi said.
12: 37 pm | Will definitely realise the dream of reaching the moon
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reassured that the nation's "dream of reaching the moon will definitely be realised no matter how many setbacks we face.”
12:30 pm | Need to learn from our scientists: PM Modi in Mumbai
“We can learn from our scientists at Isro how to perform under pressure and be calm even in the most difficult situations,” said PM Modi at MMRDA event.
11: 51 am | Prime Minister Narendra Modi onboard a state of the art metro coach, the first metro coach manufactured under Make in India program.
11:16 am | PM Modi offers prayers at Vile Parle
After landing in Mumbai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at Lokmanya Seva Sangh Tilak Mandir in Mumbai’s Vile Parle.
10:51 am | PM Modi arrives in Mumbai to inaugurate the three metro line
