Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line at Botanical Garden Metro station on Monday afternoon bringing parts of south Delhi closer to Noida by at least 30 minutes. People can use the metro on this line from 5 pm.
The 12.64-kilometre section of the new line connects Botanical Garden in Noida to Kalkaji in southeast Delhi with seven other stations along the way. The entire journey on the stretch is expected to last 20 minutes. The line is scheduled to be extended till Janakpuri in west Delhi by March 2018.
The inauguration was also attended by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath though no invitation was extended to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
Huge crowd outside Botanical Garden metro station in #Noida as Modi inaugurates #MagentaLine @htTweets @HTNoidaGzb pic.twitter.com/stP3Pgvh8h
— Vaibhav (@Vaibhav_Rptr) December 25, 2017
After taking the metro from Botanical Garden to Okhla Bird Sanctuary, Modi is scheduled to address a rally at Amity University in Noida located about 2-kilometre away.
Ahead of PM’s visit, the city had been barricaded by the police and armed forces personnel. As many as 5,155 security personnel are on duty for the day. The area has been divided into 15 zones and additional security personnel have been brought in from various parts of the state.
Entry of vehicles has been barred on few important routes in Noida ahead of PM Modi’s visit.
This was the second instance in three days when CM Yogi was visiting Noida thereby breaking the ‘jinx’ associated with the city. For the last eight years, it has been said that any CM visiting Noida was bound to lose power if they visit Noida.
HT