Pune, March 06: Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a veiled attack on the previous Congress government at the Centre, stating that speed and scale are most important for infrastructure development in any country. Describing the foundation stone laying and timely inauguration of Pune Metro as a big achievement of his government, the Prime Minister on Sunday said that earlier when foundation stones were laid, it was not known when the inauguration would take place.
Prime Minister Modi was addressing a program organized by the Pune Municipal Corporation at the MIT College Grounds after gifting various projects, including Metro and River Improvement Project to Pune.
During this, he said, โMany programs related to the development of Pune have been inaugurated and foundation stones have been laid. It is my good fortune that you invited me to lay the foundation stone of Pune Metro and now you have given me the opportunity to inaugurate it. Earlier, when the foundation stone was laid, it was not known when the inauguration would take place.
Describing today’s inauguration as important, he said that “it also has a message that projects can be completed on time”.
Describing it as his privilege to unveil a grand statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Pune Municipal Corporation premises, he said that this statue of Shivaji Maharaj will instil the inspiration of patriotism in the younger generation. This idol is made of 1,850 kg of gun metal.
Describing the timely completion of the Pune Metro Rail project with an investment of Rs 11,400 crore as a major achievement, the Prime Minister said that he had laid the foundation stone of this project on 24 December 2016. It also has the message that plans can be completed on time.
He said that Pune has continuously strengthened its identity in the field of Education, Research and Development, IT and Automobil. 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.
Referring to the spurt in metro work in comparison to the previous Congress government at the Centre, the Prime Minister said that till 2014, only Delhi-NCR of the country had witnessed a massive expansion of the Metro. Metro had started reaching the rest of the few cities. Today, in more than two dozen cities of the country, the metro has either become operational or is going to start soon.
He said that it is the endeavour of our government that every city should have maximum green transport, electric buses, electric cars, electric two wheelers. There should be smart mobility in every city; people should use only one card for transport facilities.
โEvery city should have an integrated command and control center making the facility smart. Every city should have a modern waste management system to strengthen the circular economy. There should be enough modern sewage treatment plants to make every city water plus, better arrangements should be made for the conservation of water sources,โ added Modi.
The Prime Minister said that 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. In today’s rapidly growing India, we have to focus on speed and also on scale. That is why our government has prepared PM-Gatishakti National Master Plan.
