PM Narendra Modi flags off a Nagpur metro train Thursday. (PTI)PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that before his government came to power, the country had a Metro rail network of 250 km, “which has grown by over 400 km in the past four years because you (people) voted in a stable and strong government”.
He was speaking at the inauguration of Nagpur’s Metro rail service via video link from Delhi. Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and Union Surface Transport, Shipping and Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari were present in Nagpur for the programme.
With this, Nagpur has become the second city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and 12th city in the country to have a Metro.
“The Metro service was started by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. After his government, only a 250-km network was created till 2014. We added 400 km and are working on an 800-km network,” Modi said.
He praised Nagpur Metro for being the fastest to be completed and the greenest — it will use 65 per cent solar power— in the country. “It will become famous like Nagpur’s oranges,” Modi said, adding that Metro work has generated 20,000 jobs in Nagpur.
Gadkari said, “Nagpur Metro work has been cost-effective, timely and efficient.”
