Pune: Crores of rupees wasted on scheduled inauguration of Metro route; it was planned with an eye on polls: Opposition

Pune: Opposition parties have criticised the government after PM Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Pune on Thursday (September 26) was cancelled. The inauguration of the extended underground Metro route from Shivajinagar Court to Swargate and other such programmes have been cancelled. Congress MLA Ravindra Dhangekar has raised questions over the issue.

He said, “Politicking over the issue is unfortunate. Public money should not be wasted. Inauguration of Metro stages are not important. Any other leader or the Guardian Minister could have done that. But public money is being wasted unnecessarily. Advertisements are published. This can be avoided.

“Earlier, PM Modi inaugurated other Metro stages. This put a big burden on the State’s, the country’s exchequer. The leader can’t even think about this. Crores of rupees have been wasted on the PM’s Pune visit. He has shown the green flag to many trains online from his office before.

“He could have saved the money already spent on the programme. But the inauguration was scheduled with an eye on the State Assembly polls. It was an attempt to show that the ruling party was doing it for Pune.

“The extended route should be thrown open keeping politics aside. Now, they should inaugurate it at the hands of a senior citizen or a dignitary. The underground Metro route from Shivajinagar Court to Swargate should be opened today (September 26). We request the Narendra Modi administration not to waste public money.”