Vidushi Nautiyal, Pune
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Pune was postponed due to severe rainfall in the city on Thursday. The rains have led to water logging and mud accumulation at the SP College campus, where the Prime Minister was scheduled to address a public rally following the inauguration of the new metro line, forcing the PM to delay his visit.
The Prime Minister was scheduled to inaugurate the underground section of the Metro linking Swargate and Civil Court. The section would mark the completion of Phase 1 of the Pune Metro Rail Project, with an estimated cost of ₹1,810 crore.
He was also going to lay the foundation stone for the metro network’s expansion from Katraj to Swargate as well as for a memorial at Bhidewada, commemorating Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule’s first girls’ school, in memory of the social reformer.
The last-minute cancellation of the inauguration sparked a political slugfest between the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Dheeraj Ghate, BJP’s city unit president justified the decision to postpone the metro inauguration and said that it is an honor that the PM is visiting Pune for such events. “Modi has a tradition of attending both groundbreaking and inauguration ceremonies of key projects. The opposition only knows how to criticize and play politics over such important issues”, he said further.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), however, led by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, called for the immediate opening of the metro stretch. “The metro is for the people. If it is ready, it should be operational. We will inaugurate it ourselves on Friday if necessary,” said Prashant Jagtap, NCP’s city unit president.
Arvind Shinde, Congress’ city chief, also warned that they will hold protests on Friday at the Civil Court station, pushing for the metro to be opened without further delay. Moreover, the MVA warned that if the Metro authorities failed to act with urgency, they would take matters into their own hands and open the stretch to commuters.
MVA leaders also criticized the BJP for spending crores on organizing the Prime Minister’s visit. They also questioned the decision to select Modi for the inauguration as the Prime Minister had already attended six previous events for the Pune Metro and argued that the BJP was leveraging the Metro project for political advantage ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Following the cancellation, Pune Metro resumed operations on other routes, but the underground stretch between Civil Court and Swargate remained closed.