PUNE: While Pune has developed keeping pace with the rapid urbanisation that India is witnessing, the lack of mass transport has inconvenienced Punekars for years now even as the city has everything else to offer. That gap was finally bridged on Sunday with the inauguration of the metro at the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Prime Minister took a metro ride from Garware college to Anand nagar by paying the ticket fare through his mobile phone at a nearby kiosk. During the ride, he interacted with specially-abled youths. Thereafter, two priority stretches totaling a distance of 12km – the elevated 5km Vanaz to Garware college stretch with five stations on the Ramwadi route, and the elevated 7km Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to Phugewadi stretch also with five stations on the Chinchwad-Swargate route – were thrown open to the public at 3pm. From Monday, the metro will operate from 8am to 9pm every day.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Modi said, “The metro will make mobility easy in Pune and it will give relief from traffic jams and pollution, and increase the ease of living of the people of Pune.
