Flags off 2 Vande Bharat trains, launches Mumbai infra projects
Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the three-day Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit 2023 in Lucknow on Friday.
Top industrialists, including Aditya Birla group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, participated in the event.
Hailing Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government, Birla said it has taken several measures regarding ease of doing business, helping it emerge as an attractive state for investors. He appealed to the industrialists to invest in the state.
Birla industries has a 70-decade-old relationship with UP and his group has more than seven businesses in the state wherein 13,000 people work, he added.
Ambani, while speaking at the event, said that UP had become a centre of hope for New India due to improvement in law and order conditions and ease of doing business.
He added that the state had been fulfilling the conditions of industries and cooperation needed for the development of a state.
On the occasion of the launch, Yogi tweeted that investors, policy-makers, delegations from the corporate world and academicians would participate in the three-day UP Global Investors Summit in the ‘New Uttar Pradesh’ of ‘New India’.
The CM said that investment is being done simultaneously in 75 districts of the state for the first time.
The summit will fulfill the resolution of making the state a $1 trillion economy as well as making the country a $5 trillion economy.
Five big pandals and tent cities have been erected on the lines of 5-star hotels in 25,000 square metres at the Defence Expo Ground in the city.
Patrolling has been increased along the borders of Nepal and neighbouring states.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off two new Vande Bharat Express trains linking Mumbai with Solapur and Sainagar Shirdi, amid cheers and clapping from the passengers and the audiences, here on Friday afternoon.
Landing here this afternoon at the INS Shikra, the Prime Minister drove to the World Heritage Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and showed the green flag to the two swank new trains.
Later, PM Modi e-inaugurated the Vakola-Kurla and MTNL-Lal Bahadur Shastri elevated corridor arms of the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road, a critical east-west connector.
He also pressed the button to open a new vehicular underpass in Kurar village in north-Mumbai’s Malad suburb connecting the Western Express Highway to ease traffic congestion in that area besides linking Kurar with Malad station.
The two Vande Bharat Express trains — the 9th and 10th in the series — will connect major pilgrimage centres in Maharashtra and give a fillip to the religious tourism circuit, officials explained.
The Mumbai-Solapur Vande Bharat train will transport pilgrims to the famed temples and religious sites of Siddheshwar, Akkalkot, Tuljapur, Pandharpur and even Alandi in the vicinity.
Similarly, the Mumbai-Sainagar Shirdi Vande Bharat train will serve devotees going to Trimbakeshwar, Shirdi’s Saibaba Temple, Shani Singanapur, and other important locations in that region, besides the Kumbh Mela held in Nashik every 12 years, the next due in 2027.
Earlier, the PM was accorded a warm welcome by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, other ministers and senior officials.
This is PM Modi’s second visit to Mumbai in three weeks, the previous one being on January 19, when he inaugurated or dedicated or laid foundation stones of infrastructure projects worth over Rs 38,000 crore, besides flagging off the Mumbai Metro Line 2 and Line 7.
The PM’s two visits at a short interval are viewed as setting the stage for the upcoming BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections that are likely to be announced soon.
‘UP will drive India’s growth’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking at the launch of the three-day Global Investors Summit 2023 being held here, said that Uttar Pradesh would drive India’s growth.
PM Modi said that developments were happening in the fields of electricity, connectivity and infrastructure in the state, only after the switch of power in 2017.
Adding that the change took in just six years, he said that Uttar Pradesh had become a centre of hope for the entire country.
Modi said that there was a time when UP was referred to by the acronym ‘Bimaru’, but the state had established a new identity in recent years.
The Prime Minister added that the state is now recognised for its good governance and improved law and order condition.
PM Modi said that there has been a tremendous improvement in the state’s infrastructure and it will be known as the only state in the country with five international airports.
PM Modi at the beginning of his speech said that he was the chief guest at the event, but since he was an MP from the state he was welcoming them. (IANS)
