PM Modi to inaugurate Pune Metro online on Sunday

Pune, Sep 27: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually inaugurate the Metro line between Shivajinagar District Court and Swargate in Pune on September 29 (Sunday), local MP and Union minister Murlidhar Mohol has said.

Besides inaugurating the corridor, PM Modi will also lay the foundation of the Swargate-Katraj Metro stretch on Sunday, said the Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Cooperation.

PM Modi’s visit to Pune on Thursday was cancelled due to heavy rains in the city. He was to flag off the Metro corridor and launch development projects of Rs 22,600 crore ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections.

“Hon. PM Shri. Narendra Modi ji will be inaugurating the Shivajinagar District Court-Swargate stretch of Pune Metro and laying the foundation stone of Swargate-Katraj stretch virtually, on 29th September,” said Mohol on X.

Preparations had been made at the SP College ground in Pune for the PM’s visit, but heavy downpours disrupted it.

Meanwhile, workers and functionaries of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents — Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP) staged the protest outside the Shivajinagar District Court Metro station.

“After our announcement yesterday that the MVA would open the stretch, they have now announced that the prime minister will inaugurate the stretch virtually,” said Sanjay More, president of the Shiv Sena (UBT) Pune city unit.

The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) vice-president Mohan Joshi demanded that the stretch be opened at the earliest.

NCP (SP) city unit president Prashant Jagtap said the stretch should be thrown open to the public immediately as taxpayers’ money was being utilised.

Hours after PM Modi’s Pune visit was cancelled on Thursday, NCP (SP) working president and Baramati MP Supriya Sule had suggested that Modi should go for the online inauguration of the Metro line, saying he has inaugurated the “same” project five times in the past.