On a misty Thursday morning, it stood on the tracks of Transport Nagar depot like an unveiled bride with multihued flowers adorning a red veil amidst extreme buzz. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav pressed the button at lucknow Metro Transport nagar Depot to reveal the latest addition to the Nawabi city’s public transport - the ravishing red lucknow Metro Train.
With Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh and CM Akhilesh Yadav flagging off the maiden trial run, a new page in lucknow history was inked. The two were flanked by SP leaders Shivpal Yadav, Azam Khan, the CM’s MP wife Dimple Yadav and nonagenarian litterateur Gopal Das Neeraj.
The City of Nawabs had finally moved from the tongas to the metro. The sight of two young women pilots Prachi Sharma and Priyanka handling the solo trial run made the occasion all the more special.
As the swank French train smoothly slid over the elevated section towards Mawaiya, thousands of people thronged the roads and balconies to have a peek and capture the moment in their cell phones. leaving its audience spellbound the flower bedecked train made its course from Transportnagar depot to Mawaiya and back.
Addressing a gathering, Akhielsh Yadav expressed his gratitude to ‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan for making the Metro Rail a reality in lucknwo.
“ With lucknow Metro, we have set an example of how a project can be completed in short time. This will solve the traffic problem in a big way. We have been seeing ambulances caught up in traffic which I hope will become a thing of the past,” said Yadav.
The CM said that Metro was not a part of their poll manifesto yet it was brought to lucknow. “The Metro is plying in Ghaziabad, Greater NOIDA and has been planned in Kanpur. If the SP is voted back then we will also begin work of the Varanasi Metro,” he promised.
Referring to demonetisation, Yadav said that wehile the SP gavethe Metro to the people, the Union government only put a break on the economy through the weird move. “The problem created by the Centre will take months to get solved,” said Yadav.
SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said that he was happy that the project had been completed in time. “I was asked to lay the foundation of the Metro project and I enquired about the time required for the project. When told it would take four years, I refused. It was only when they promised that the construction would be completed in two years that I agreed. This is a great moment for lucknow,” he said.
Referring to growing number of deaths in firing along the Indo-Pak broders, Mulayam said that it was unfortunate to hear about jawans being martyred. “ If the Army is given a free hand, then this would stop immediately. India is an atomic power and can destroy Pakistan. But we know nobody wins in a war,” he said.
Yadav Senior stressed that after the inauguration of Metro Rail, Uttar Pradesh could no longer be called backward and no other state in the country had seen so much development in the last four years as UP. While praising his CM son’s efforts, he also had a word of praise for Shivpal Yadav for doingn good job in land development and Cooperative Banks.
In his speech, Shivpal said that the lucknow Metro was an example of work getting completed in record time and will go a long way in ridding the city of pollution.
Azam Khan said, “All credit goes to Akhilesh for making lucknow Metro a reality. We have to catch pace and increase speed. The Centre has reduced the speed by making people stand in queues” he said.
Managing Director lMRC ( lucknow Metro Rail Corporation) Kumar Keshav said,“We have worked hard to complete the work in time. We will complete the construction of North south corridor on 23 kilometres by March 2019,” he said.