PM Modi to inaugurate Pune Metro virtually on September 29: Murlidhar Mohol

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Pic/PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually inaugurate the Pune 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 Pune 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 Murlidhar Mohol on X.

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

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

"It is very unfortunate that we have missed PM Modi's visit. It is Maharashtra's culture to welcome a guest. I want to bring it to the PMO's notice that it would be the sixth time the same Pune Metro project would have been inaugurated," said the MP from Baramati in Pune district, reported PTI.

"So I request the PM to inaugurate Pune Metro online...it is the same project he had inaugurated five times in the past...it will help the people of the Pune city and the inauguration must not wait for the next visit of the PM," Sule added, reported PTI.

However, her colleague and Pune NCP (SP) chief Prashant Jagtap had struck a belligerent note, warning that Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders would open the Civil Court-Swargate Metro line for the public on Friday if the government failed to do so, reported PTI.

Jagtap claimed that the Metro route was kept shut despite being ready only because the government was waiting for the PM to inaugurate it.

(With inputs from PTI)