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This is an archive article published on March 6, 2024

PM Modi inaugurates Pune Metro route extension; these three new stations will be operational from today

The Ruby Hall to Ramwadi Metro stretch will cover stations like Bundgarden, Kalyani Nagar, and Ramwadi.

pune metro, pm modi, indian expressPM Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the Pune Metro stretch from Ruby Hall Clinic to Ramwadi and performed the bhoomi pujan of the Pimpri to Nigdi stretch.(Express Photo)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday virtually inaugurated the six-kilometre Pune Metro stretch from Ruby Hall Clinic to Ramwadi and performed the bhoomi pujan of the 4.4 km-Pimpri to Nigdi stretch.

Apart from the Pune Metro, the Prime Minister also flagged off metro railway services of Kolkata Metro, Kochi Metro, Agra Metro, and Meerut-RRTS section.

Shravan Hardikar, Managing Director, Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (Maha Metro), said the Metro service on Ruby Hall to Ramwadi stretch will start from noon. “It will bring relief to office-goers and students from both Pune city and Pimpri-Chinchwad areas. The service will be similar to other stretches. There will be a train every seven and half minutes during peak hours, and during non-peak hours, a Metro train will be available every 10 minutes,” said Hardikar.

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Hardikar said the Ruby Hall to Ramwadi Metro will connect the stations Bundgarden, Kalyani Nagar, and Ramwadi. “The Yerawada station, which falls between Bundgarden and Kalyaninagar will take some more time for completion,” he said. Hardikar said that the travel time from Vanaz to Ramwadi has been estimated at 35 minutes, from PCMC to Ramwadi at 45 minutes.

Hardikar said the cost of the 4.4-kilometre metro stretch between Pimpri and Nigdi is estimated at over Rs 900 crore. “We have already started the preliminary work like land acquisition and designing. The actual construction work will start in three months,” he said.

In Pimpri-Chinchwad, BJP workers, citizens and activists gathered in big numbers at the PCMC Metro station to witness the virtual inauguration. Among others, Maval MP Shrirang Barne, MLAs Mahesh Landge, Ashwini Jagtap and Bansode, and MLC Uma Khapre were present.

Shekhar Singh, Commissioner, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal, who was also present at the bhoomi pujan, said his administration will extend the best possible support to Maha Metro to start the construction work as early as possible and complete it by the set deadline.

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Amol Deshpande, a civic activist, said he and other activists have been demanding that Metro should be extended up to Nigdi for more than 10 years. “Better late than never. Appropriate steps have been initiated finally and it will be a big relief for residents of Pimpri-Chinchwad,” he said.

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


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