PM Modi opens expressway, metro projects in NCR

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday opened to the public an expressway and a metro-rail project in the National Capital Region and also laid the foundation stone of a Skill University that will come up in Palwal in Haryana.

Modi inaugurated the projects and laid the foundation stone digitally by pressing a remote button at a function in Sultanpur village in this district.

The 83-km Kundli-Manesar stretch of Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP)expressway, also known as the western peripheral expressway, was opened for traffic with the inauguration.

The first Manesar-Palwal stretch (52 km) was inaugurated in April 2016.

The stretch inaugurated on Monday was the last leg of peripheral expressways, with a combined length of 270 km, forming a ring around Delhi.

The Eastern Peripheral Expressway, also known as Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (KGP) expressway, was inaugurated in May this year.

Besides reducing travel time, the expressways will decongest Delhi by offering an alternative route to vehicles not destined for Delhi.

"This expressway will also help reduce pollution in Delhi and neighbouring areas to a great extent," Modi said.

"I congratulate the people of Haryana and Delhi-NCR for this expressway. Now, a network of nearly 270 km of expressways around Delhi has been completed," he said.

Modi also inaugurated the Rs 580-crore 3.2-km elevated stretch of the Violet Line of the Delhi Metro through video-conferencing.

The existing metro corridor linking the Kashmere Gate Station in New Delhi with Escorts Mujesar in Faridabad was planned for expansion up to industrial hub Ballabhgarh.

The corridor extends from 13.8-km Badarpur-Escorts-Mujesar stretch, which was opened to the public in 2015. The new corridor will make the Violet Line 46.6 km long.

The Shri Vishwakarma Skill University, the foundation stone of which Modi laid Monday, will come up at Dudhola in Palwal district of Haryana over 82.5 acres at a cost of Rs 989 crore.

"Today's day is important for Haryana," Modi said, referring to the projects.

He said the university will provide skill training to youth as per changing nature of jobs.

"This university will also provide education in enabling them to set up their own ventures," he said.

Earlier on his arrival at Sultanpur, Modi went to see the visual art exhibition pertaining to KMP project and was briefed by officials about it.

The prime minister was accompanied by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Union Minister of State Rao Inderjit Singh, who is an MP from Gurgaon, and state Governor Satyadeo Narayan Arya.

(With inputs from agencies.)