New Delhi, November 3: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for Pune Metro projects worth around ₹21,800 crore, including the opening of the Hinjawadi to Shivajinagar corridor. He took part in the event through video conferencing.
Mr Modi said the new corridor would give better connectivity to a major IT hub, while the line started on Tuesday would further link the older and newer parts of the city. He recalled that he had laid the foundation stone for the first phase of the Pune Metro ten years ago.
Corridor built under public-private partnership
The Prime Minister said the newly opened line had been built under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, with the government and the private sector working together. “This is such a model of development whose success gives further momentum to the progress of the country,” he said.
He described Pune as a centre for IT, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, startups and manufacturing, and said stronger metro links would speed up the city’s development. Metro networks save commuting time, he said, and a city that saves time becomes more productive, which in turn helps the national economy.
Metro network figures
According to the Prime Minister, India’s metro network has grown over the past 12 years to nearly 1,200 km across 26 cities and carries more than one crore passengers a day. He said it is now counted among the top three metro networks in the world.
In Maharashtra, he said, only 10 to 11 km of metro lines were running in 2014. About 175 km are now in service, and construction is under way on more than 680 km, with an investment of over ₹2.5 lakh crore.
Urban Challenge Fund and smaller cities
Mr Modi said cities are major centres of economic activity and that hundreds of smaller towns need to be developed into growth hubs. He referred to the Urban Challenge Fund, approved in February this year with ₹1 lakh crore in Central assistance to mobilise urban investment running into lakhs of crores, and asked local bodies and private partners to join the effort in mission mode.
Growth and poverty figures
The Prime Minister said India had kept the world’s fastest growth rate despite difficult international conditions. Citing the latest World Bank report, he said 50 crore people had been lifted out of extreme poverty in 10 to 12 years.
He said the two were linked: a growing economy and a bigger budget allow higher public investment, and money once lost to scams and leakages now reaches beneficiaries directly. Spending on roads, rail, airports, metros, electricity, water and gas pipelines improves living standards and creates jobs at the same time, he said.
Message to Maharashtra’s farmers
Mr Modi acknowledged the hardship facing farming families in Maharashtra because of adverse weather and drought. He noted the advance assistance given by the state government and the transfer of PM Kisan funds. “Do not worry at all, we are all with the farmers,” he said, and asked people to remember drought-affected families during the Diwali season.
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