Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani on Monday inaugurated the underground Sealdah Metro Railway Station of East West Metro Corridor in the city through virtual mode from Howrah Maidan station. The first Metro train from Sealdah, one of the busiest railway stations in the country, rolled towards Sector V in Salt Lake, the city’s IT hub, when it pressed the button to unveil the plaque. The program was organized amid the controversy over the invitation to the Chief Minister. Mamata Banerjee And local Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandopadhyay or local MLA Paresh Pal did not participate.
Irani visited Sealdah metro station earlier in the day. He inaugurated it through virtual mode from Howrah Maidan Station, Terminal Station of East West Metro Corridor on the other side of Hooghly River. “The entire length of the East West Metro corridor will be completed by 2023,” he said at the ceremony.
An official said that the extended service of the East West Metro to Sealdah on the short 9-km route will start commercially from Thursday. This service is now available between Sector V and Phoolbagan in the city and will be extended to 2.33 km.
Irani said the expansion of Sealdah, a terminal railway station in the city, would help around 35,000 commuters from adjoining districts in their daily commute. Banerjee, who was conspicuous by her absence, began a three-day tour of North Bengal during the day.
Metro officials said Banerjee was invited, while the TMC leadership claimed it was not done in a proper manner and only a card was given to her at her residence a day before the inauguration. TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Shantanu Sen even claimed that the Sealdah Metro station was decided to be inaugurated on this day as Banerjee’s was due to be in North Bengal, while senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha alleged that the program was canceled His journey was arranged to escape.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh claimed that the East West Metro Corridor project was Banerjee’s contribution and questioned her not being named in the invitation letter for the inauguration. TMC supremo has been the railway minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh governments. Apart from Irani, the names of local MPs and MLAs were in the invitation card of the Metro Authority. Kolkata Mayor and state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim told reporters, “It is extremely indecent (of metro railways) not to consult the chief minister in advance for the date of the inauguration and his name is not even in the invitation letter.”
“TMC is trying to politicize a program aimed at public good,” Sinha said. The program began with a minute’s silence in memory of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which was attended by the country’s Consul General in Kolkata, Nakagawa Koichi.
Congratulating all those who played a role in the construction of the 2.33 km metro railway section between Phoolbagan and Sealdah at a cost of Rs 1,250 crore, Irani said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi Making all efforts for all round development of infrastructure in West Bengal including railways and metro system. “government” India In his address before the inauguration, Irani said, “In view of the growing population, everything has been done to speed up the construction of infrastructure of railways and metro services.”
Speaking in Bengali, he described how a woman with a child stopped his car and asked him to tell his “pranam” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A woman standing with her child in the scorching sun just for a minister to congratulate Modi ji for her child’s future and education For me, in her eight year journey as Prime Minister, the best for her from a citizen. It’s a big gift. Told. Irani said that the central government has given more than Rs 8,000 crore to West Bengal for the welfare of women and children in eight years.
The Union minister said he took his two-day first rural visit to Howrah on Sunday and found that people were grateful for the free ration provided by the Center for the last 25 months under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. “I thank 72 lakh people in West Bengal for getting free ration for 25 months under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana,” she said.
Irani said 4.5 crore people in West Bengal have been linked to the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, a financial inclusion programme, while over 2,140 startups have been strengthened in the state. Interacting with the people, Irani said that her maternal grandfather’s house is in Salt Lake and she was fortunate to inaugurate the Sealdah-Salt Lake Metro.
According to the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation, Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation, out of the 16.6 km long East West Metro route, the underground corridor constitutes 10.8 km between Howrah and Phoolbagan, with the tunnel passing under the Hooghly River, while the rest is elevated. There is corridor. Project. In May, nearly three years after a similar incident, the Sealdah-Esplanade link was hit by cracks in several houses during underground work in central Kolkata’s Bowbazar area. This has delayed completion of the project from the scheduled date of December, 2021.
Metro authorities are now hoping on extension of services to Sealdah to increase the number of passengers in the partially operational East West Metro corridor as it is suffering from low protection. A Metro official said it would take only 21 minutes to cover the distance, which is usually an hour’s travel time by road.
read all breaking news, today’s fresh newswatch top videos And live TV Here.