Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Maharashtra’s Pune today (August 1) and inaugurate the new extended routes of Pune Metro. PM Modi will signal the start of Metro service on the two completed corridors of Pune Metro Phase-I. These sections are – Phugewadi station to Civil Court station and Garware College station to Ruby Hall-Clinic station.
The Prime Minister will also unveil a clutch of big-ticket development projects in Pune city. He is slated to start his day by visiting the iconic Dagdusheth temple in Pune at around 11 am after which he will be conferred the Lokmanya Tilak National Award.
Extended routes of Pune Metro to open today
At 12.45 pm on Tuesday, PM Modi will inaugurate the new extended routes of Pune Metro. The foundation stone of this project was also laid by PM Modi in 2016.
The two new routes have 11 stations, out of which two are underground – Shivajinagar metro station & Civil Court metro station. It will take 40 minutes to travel from PCMC to Vanaz and the fare will be Rs 35 while the fare from PCMC to Ruby Hall will be Rs 30.
According to the statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the new sections will connect essential places of Pune city like Pune Municipal Corporation office, Shivaji Nagar, Civil Court, Pune RTO and Pune Railway Station.
The new lines of the Pune Metro also include one of the deepest metro stations in the country, Civil Court metro station, which is constructed at a depth of 33.1 m. Another unique feature is that the roof of the Civil Court metro station is made in such a manner that direct sunlight falls on the platform.
Moreover, the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (Maha-Metro) is also going to provide 30 per cent concession on ticket fare for students and those using the Pune Metro services on the weekend. The move of Maha-Metro comes to encourage metro usage by daily commuters.
PM to lay foundation stone of various development projects
The prime minister will also lay the foundation stone of various development projects and receive the Lokmanya Tilak National Award. According to the statement issued by PMO, the prime minister will perform ‘darshan and pooja’ at Dagdusheth Mandir upon his arrival.
After this, PM Modi will be conferred the Lokmanya Tilak National Award, constituted by Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in 1983, to honour the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak. Notably, the prime minister will be the 41st recipient of the award, after Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, Pranab Mukherjee, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Indira Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, N R Narayana Murthy, E Sreedharan and others.
On his one-day visit to Pune, PM Modi will also inaugurate the Waste to Energy Plant under Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) worth Rs 300 crore, which will use up about 2.5 lakh MT of waste annually to produce electricity.
Moving ahead towards the mission of achieving housing for all, the prime minister will hand over more than 1,280 houses constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana by PCMC. The PMO statement also added that PM Modi is scheduled to hand over more than 2,650 PMAY houses constructed by the Pune Municipal Corporation and he will lay the foundation stone for around 1,190 PMAY houses, which will be constructed by the PCMC, and 6,400 houses which will be constructed by the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority.
Traffic restrictions in Pune
Owing to the prime minister’s visit, the Pune traffic police have issued a traffic advisory for commuters to avoid some roads and key traffic junctions in the city. Some roads will remain closed phase by phase (as and when needed) for vehicular traffic between 6 am and 3 pm on Tuesday.
In a notification issued, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Vijaykumar Magar, said that for the movement of vehicles of VIP and VVIP dignitaries in Pune, several traffic diversions and closures will be in place to ensure seamless travels. No road will be kept closed for a longer time, and traffic regulation will take place phase by phase as per the passage of the convoy, the official said.