Kalyan: On Tuesday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the city, the first thing he saw was the launch of Navi Mumbai’s town planning authority City and Industrial Development Corporation’s (CIDCO) mass housing scheme worth Rs 18,000 crore, which offers around 89,771 affordable homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
“Housing for all is among the top-most priorities of our government. With one’s own home comes dignity and the ability to fulfil one’s aspirations. Besides this, furthering connectivity and convenience for the hard-working citizens of Mumbai and Thane. The Rs 8,416-crore 24.9-km long Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan Metro-5 corridor is expected to carry around 2.29 lakh commuters daily in 2021, with the entire system designed for six-coach trains.
The corridor will have 17 stations,” PM Modi said.The 10.3-km elevated Dahisar-Mira Bhayander Metro-9 corridor, comprising eight stations, is expected to be completed by 2022, and the cost of the project is estimated at Rs 6,607 crore. Both the projects are being executed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
PM Modi claimed the NDA government has built 1.25 crore homes for the poor and marginalised sections of the society in the last four years, as against 25.5 lakh constructed under the UPA administration from 2010 to 2014. The PM also took potshots at the slow pace of works on Metro projects under the previous government, saying it took them eight years to build the financial capital’s first metro line from Ghatkopar to Versova in suburban Mumbai.
As against that, the BJP-led government was creating a network of Metro lines spread over 275 km that will enable Mumbai residents to have a smooth ride while criss-crossing the entire megapolis by 2024, he said. He listed a slew of schemes launched by his government for the poor, marginalised and also the middle class. In this regard, he highlighted the subsidy for LED bulbs which has helped reduce electricity bills, the cooking gas replacement scheme and also having a regulator for the realty sector.
Modi was speaking at an event in Kalyan town in the neighbouring Thane district where he laid the foundation stone for mass transport and housing projects entailing an investment of over Rs 33,000 crore. He launched works on the ambitious Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan Metro-5 and Dahisar-Mira Bhayander Metro-9 in the suburb, which will see investments of over Rs 15,000 crore.
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