Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Pune on Thursday was cancelled due to the heavy rain situation in the city. He was scheduled to flag off the Pune Metro’s District Court to Swargate underground stretch and launch various development projects worth ₹22,600 crore ahead of the Assembly elections in Maharashtra.
“The PM’s visit to Pune has been cancelled and the programme officially postponed,” Pune Divisional Commissioner Chandrakant Pulkundwar said.
Hemant Sonawane, Executive Director (Administration and Public Relations), Pune Metro, said, “The programme has been cancelled due to the orange alert (for heavy rains) issued for Thursday by the IMD. If there are rains, people coming for the programme may face hassles, so for the safety of the people, the programme has been cancelled.”
Meanwhile, despite the cancellation of the PM’s visit, Punekars on social media urged the Pune Metro to open the District Court to Swargate stretch, which would give huge relief to commuters from Pimpri-Chinchwad. Currently, if a commuter has to travel from Pimpri-Chinchwad to Swargate, it takes more than an hour. During rains, it takes more than two hours to reach Swargate. However, with the opening of this stretch, the travel time of the commuters will come down drastically.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), a user wrote, “I sincerely hope that despite PM visit cancellation that @metrorailpune new stretch is thrown open to the public. No need for a full-fledged inauguration function for a tiny stretch anyway. It would be a shame if they hold back starting service on this stretch.”
“Despite PM Modi’s Pune visit being cancelled, @metrorailpune should still open the District Court to Swargate stretch. You don’t need the PM to come and inaugurate a 3.64 km stretch,” commented another user.
“Pune citizens have been quite patient. The project faced delays due to various factors. It would be disappointing to wait further for the metro service to commence,” a third user said.
In connection with this, Sonawane said, “The on-site inauguration is on hold as of now. So, the public service of Pune Metro from District Court to Swargate will not start until the official inauguration. However, high-level discussions are ongoing.”
Later in the day, it was learnt that Pune Metro is in talks with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to explore the possibility of conducting the inauguration in virtual mode, as all preparations have been completed, and the service could be opened to the public.
Congress Plans Protest:
After the cancellation of PM Modi’s visit, Pune Congress held a press conference expressing strong criticism and threatening to launch an agitation if the metro stretch is not opened virtually. The party leaders said that they would request the metro authorities to start the service, and if they refused, the party would launch an agitation at their office premises. Congress city president Arvind Shinde emphasised the waste of public funds for Modi’s visit, while Kasba Peth MLA Ravindra Dhangekar posed ten questions to the state and central government, highlighting pressing local issues.
NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule also said Modi should do a virtual opening as he has inaugurated the “same” project five times in the past. “It is very unfortunate that we have missed PM Modi’s visit. It is Maharashtra’s culture to welcome a guest. I want to bring it to the PMO’s notice that it would be the sixth time the same Pune Metro project would have been inaugurated,” said the Baramati MP. “So I request the PM to inaugurate Pune Metro online… it is the same project he had inaugurated five times in the past… it will help the people of Pune city, and the inauguration must not wait for the PM’s next visit,” she added.
The AAP city president Sudarshan Jagdale also slammed the ruling party. “Narendra Modi’s visit to Pune City has been cancelled, but the metro line must be inaugurated. The work on the Swargate to District Court route has been completed for the past month, yet property worth thousands of crores is lying unused simply because the PM does not have time. If the Maharashtra government and Pune administration do not inaugurate the project, the AAP will take the initiative to inaugurate this metro line, as this project was funded by the residents and taxpayers of Pune, and there are significant issues with traffic congestion,” Jagdale said.
