Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray is probably going to inaugurate aqua Line or Reach III (Sitabuldi to Lokmanya Nagar stretch) of Nagpur underground between Dec 18 to twenty. MahaMetro officers are operating day and night to convey final touches to the stretch. Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) can visit the town on Fri to examine the rani Jhansi sq. station on aqua Line. The winter session of state legislature is being controlled within the town from Dec 16 to 21. Author can thus be in Nagpur throughout this era. An underground official said that there was very little probability of Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending the inauguration ceremony. “Thackeray and Modi belong to totally different parties and also the 2 of them returning along is difficult. However, we’ll invite Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari as he’s the local MP,” he said. The official is assured that CMRS can clear the rani Jhansi sq. station before the flag off. If that happens, Reach III can have 5 operational stations — Lokmanya Nagar, Subhash Nagar, establishment of Engineers, rani Jhansi sq. and Sitabuldi Interchange. The aqua line was slated to be opened by Modi on Sep 7. However, due to significant rain warning issued by the meteorologic department, PM’s visit was off. Modi was able to flag off the train through video link however former CM Devendra Fadnavis wished Modi to return to Nagpur and do it in person. As elections were declared a couple of days later, this arranges went haywire.
After the elections, it took many days before the govt. was shaped and Reach III remained non-operational each although it absolutely was prepared. MahaMetro manager claimed that fixing the date of inauguration was within the hands of central and state governments. The official same that not solely individuals would board trains on blue Line however ridership of trains in Reach I’d conjointly increase. “In the case of each underground, the ridership is usually low once one corridor is working. It will increase once a lot of lines become operational. We tend to hope constant,” he said. He added that an oversized variety of schools area unit placed close to Lokmanya Nagar station, that is outside municipal limits and students will use the underground to trip their academic establishments.
