It was a golden moment for the city that will go down in history when Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi flagged off lucknow’s very own Metro train in the presence of Minister for Urban Development Government of India Hardeep Singh and Metro Man E Sreedharan from platform 1 of the Transport Nagar Station on Tuesday.
On the ocassion, Rajnath announced several measures to curb the traffic jams in the city. Yogi said the State will set up one Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation which will look into the construction of the Metros in the entire State.
Terming the metamorphosis of the lucknow from a Nawabi city to a Metro city Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that the start of the lucknow Metro will open doors of development for the state capital.
Dedicating the Metro to the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Rajnath Singh said that Atal Bihari Vajpayee started the first Metro from Shahadra to Teezhazari on December 25th 2000 in the country and hence the project should be dedicated to him.
He said that with the Metro the city had turn truely smart and now the endeavour was to give the city its last mile connectivity.
Rajnath Singh pointed out that he wanted to see the state capital as a representative of a modern transport system that has world class transport system that will not only facilitate the passengers in moving quickly from one point to another but also rid it of pollution.
“The second phase of the lucknow Metro will be completed in the next one and a half years uptil Munshipullia” he added.
Stressing that when one thinks in terms of infrastructure of the city one needs to think ten years ahead, Rajnath Singh said that it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee who had directed him to initiate the construction of the Shaheed Path so that it could rid the city of traffic jam.
“Following this I have given the city the 140 kilometre long outer ring road which the work on which will shortly start” he said.
Singh also announced several measures that he was taking to rid the city of the traffic jams. “Seven flyovers will be constructed in lucknow , the detailed project reports of these flyovers will be completed by December and Jnauary” he said.
The Home Minister said that for Charbagh Railway Station a second entry will be made from the Cantonement side for which Rs 81 crores have been sanctioned and work will start shortly.
“There is a lot of problem which is faced by passengers when they are stopped outside the city and hence for this four railway tracks will be laid out and two new platforms will be constructed. The station of Alamnagar has already been declared a satellite station and passengers can get down at this station” he said.
The Home Minister said that the Gomtinagar station will be developed as a terminus station wherein 6 new platforms will be developed and the work on two has already started.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath extended a special thanks to the Governor Ram Naik for providing guidance on developing the state and also to the Metroman E Sreedharan for completing the project in time.
“Under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guidance we will take up the construction of the Metros in different parts of the state and instead of setting up several different Corporations we will set up a UP Metro Corporation that will look into the construction of the Metros” said Yogi.
The CM said that the Metro Man E Sreedharan will be the Principal Consultant who will guide on where the metro can be developed and where the monorail can be developed in the state.
“ Metros will be developed in Kanpur, Agra, Varanasi, Allahabad, Gorakhpur and Jhansi. The Prime Ministers support will help take these other Metro projects in the state since he has a vision that 50 Metro projects should be taken in the next 30 years to improve and modernize modern transport system” he said adding that the Prime Minister facilitated the project by enabling the project to get loans from the European Investment Bank
Yogi pointed out that the Metroman has been able to get the project completed in time which could be described as a service to the nation because he stops the burden on the state treasury.
Minister of State Urban Development Government of India Hardeep Singh while speaking on the occasion said 370 km of the metroline has already been laid in the country and nearly 530 kms Metro line was still under construction. The Minister said that there were several proposals for Metro which were underway.
Metroman E Sreedharan said that the lucknow Metro was the fastest Metro which was constructed. “ Even as the Kochi Metro was constructed in four years, the lucknow Metro was constructed in less than three years and this is a World Record. With the start of the Metro the dream of lucknow is completed” he said.