Heavy rainfall in Pune was the reason behind the cancellation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit on Thursday. Baramati MP and NCP-SP leader Supriya Sule slammed this cancellation by pointing out it would have marked the sixth time that the Prime Minister inaugurated the city’s metro project.
He underlined the redundancy of it all:
“The inauguration of the metro, for which PM Modi was scheduled to visit Pune, has been done five times already. It would have been the sixth if he had come.”
Further attacking the BJP-Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government, Sule said she could not believe they would want to waste the Prime Minister’s time for such a repetitive job.
“Shockingly, the Maharashtra government was trying to schedule a meeting with a busy person like PM Modi for the same purpose,”
She said.
During his visit, PM Modi was to flag off the metro train line from District Court to Swargate and announce a host of development projects. Amid the postponing of the event, Sule today said that the Prime Minister can inaugurate the metro online.
“I request the PM to inaugurate the Pune Metro online. It is the same project he has inaugurated five times before. This will benefit the people of Pune, and the inauguration should not wait for his next visit,”
She said.
The decision to call off the visit was made as heavy rains caused waterlogging at the SP College ground, the venue of Modi’s program. Pune divisional commissioner Chandrakant Pulkundwar said,
“PM visit to Pune has been canceled, and the program stands officially postponed.”
Maharashtra Metro spokesperson Hemant Sonawane said the cancellation was due to the orange alert issued by the Indian Meteorological Department for heavy rains on Thursday.
“In case of rains, the attendees would face problems; hence, for the safety of all, the program has been canceled,”
He said.
