PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi is set to visit Mumbai for the second time in less than a month on Friday during which he will inaugurate a couple of Vande Bharat trains, launch infrastructure projects and also inaugurate the Mumbai campus of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah Arabic Academy, located in Marol in the western suburbs. Modi's second visit to Mumbai also comes in the background of soon-to-be-announced elections of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The BJP, which is ruling the state with the Eknath Shinde-led Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, has claimed they will wrest the BMC from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. Modi's successive visits to Mumbai are seen as BJP's attempt to seek electoral gains. Earlier, Modi visited Mumbai on January 19. During the visit, he inaugurated and laid the foundation stones of a number of projects worth Rs 38,000 crore aimed at transforming Mumbai's infrastructure. He also inaugurated the two Metro Lines 2A and 7 constructed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). Both these lines are drawing over a lakh ridership daily. On Friday evening, he will inaugurate the Mumbai campus of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah Arabic Academy, located in Andheri's Marol. The 53rd al-Dai al-Mutlaq and head of the Dawoodi Bohra community, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, will be present to welcome the PM at the programme. The event comes in the backdrop of Modi's appeal to his party workers to reach out to minorities, including Muslims, without expecting votes. Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah Arabic Academy (also known as Jamea) is the premier educational institute of the Dawoodi Bohra community. It was first established over two centuries ago in Surat, in 1810. This will be the fourth campus of the Jamea. In 1983, the Karachi campus was inaugurated by then Pakistan President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, and in 2017, President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya inaugurated the third campus of Jamea in Nairobi. Earlier on Friday, Modi will flag off two new and upgraded version 2.0 of Vande Bharat Express trains which will run between Mumbai and Solapur and Mumbai and Sainagar Shirdi. The trains are equipped with superior passenger amenities such as on-board Wi-Fi, infotainment, GPS-based passenger information system, plush interiors, reclining seats, bio-vacuum toilets with touch-free amenities, defused LED lighting, charging points beneath every seat, individual touch-based reading lights and concealed roller blinds, 'modern mini pantry' and 'emergency talk-back' unit for passengers to communicate with crew. Besides flagging of the two trains, the PM will also inaugurate two other road projects constructed by the MMRDA, which includes part of Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) bridge and Kurar underpass. The SCLR extension bridge is 3.8-km long that starts near Kapadia junction and ends on the Western Express Highway near Vakola junction. A part of it will be opened to the traffic. The PM will inaugurate the part of SCLR extension bridge. The entire SCLR project cost is pegged at Rs 415 crore approximately. In the Kurar underpass, MMRDA carried out the widening and construction of pedestrians cum and vehicular subway, Dindoshi, Malad on WEH. The new underpass has been constructed at around Rs 25 crore and once opened to traffic is expected to provide relief to commuters from traffic snarls.
