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The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated Pune Metro Rail Project and laid the foundation stone and inaugurated multiple developmental projects in Pune on 6 March,2022. Governor of Maharashtra Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Deputy Chief Minister Shri Ajit Pawar, Union Minister, Shri Ramdas Athawale, Member of Parliament, Shri Prakash Javadekar were among those present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister recalled the contribution of Pune in the freedom struggle and paid tributes to the freedom fighters like Lokmanya Tilak, Chapekar Brothers, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Senapati Bapat, Gopal Krishna Deshmukh, R G Bhandarakar and Mahadev Govind Ranade. He also bowed to Rambhau Mhalgi and Baba Saheb Purandare.
The Prime Minister, who unveiled the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the premises of Pune Municipal Corporation earlier, paid tribute to the great warrior king. “This statue of Shivaji Maharaj, who resides in the heart of all of us, will awaken the spirit of patriotism in the younger generation”, he said.
Referring to the inauguration of the Pune Metro Project by him earlier, the Prime Minister said, “It is my good fortune that you had invited me to lay the foundation stone of Pune Metro and now you have given me the opportunity to inaugurate it. It also has the message that plans can be completed on time.”. Shri Modi added “Pune has also continuously strengthened its identity in the fields of Education, Research & Development, IT and Automobile. In such a situation, modern facilities are the need of the people of Pune and our government is working keeping this need of the people of Pune in mind.”
Shri Modi said that while Metro services were available in very few cities till 2014, today more than two dozen cities are either being benefitted by the metro services or are on the verge of getting it. Maharashtra, he said, has quite a significant share of this expansion if we look at Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur and Pimpri Chinchwad Pune. “This Metro will ease mobility in Pune, give relief from pollution and jams, increase the ease of living of the people of Pune”, the Prime Minister said. He also called upon the people of Pune specially the well-off people to make it a habit to use Metro and other public transport.
Prime Minister, reiterated importance of rivers in the life of the cities and asked for River Festivals in the such river cities to create a new awareness about the importance and preservation of these important lifelines.
Dwelling on the new approach to infrastructure led growth in the country, the Prime Minister said “The most important thing for the development of modern infrastructure in any country is speed and scale. But for decades, we had such systems that the completion of important projects used to take a long time. This sluggish attitude has been affecting the development of the country as well.” The Prime Minister continued “In today’s fast growing India, we have to focus on speed and also on scale. That is why our government has prepared PM-Gatishakti National Master Plan.” Gatishakti Plan, he said will ensure an integrated focus as all stakeholders will work with full information and proper coordination.