After a long wait, it was a historical day for Bhopalites Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan flagged off the final trial run of the Bhopal Metro at Subhash Nagar Depot in the State capital on Tuesday morning where a huge crowd gathered to saw the new transport revolution in the city. The swanky and modern Metro system would cater comfortable, air-conditioned, pocket-friendly and eco-friendly services for the first time in Bhopal. It has completely revolutionised and added new chapter for the new generation of Bhopalities.

 

CM Chouhan travelled in Metro along with youths from Subhash Nagar to Rani Kamalapati Railway Station nearly about at a speed of 10 kilometre per hour and covered a distance of 4 km in 20 minutes and 10 seconds. Youth excited to see Metro were shouting patriotic slogans with pride and joy they were saying Slogan ‘This is me, this is my Bhopal, and this is our Metro’ reverberated in the air. During the ride, Chouhan also took stock of the arrangements, facilities and said that we have achieved all this in a short time and before the deadline, this is the result of the hard work of the Metro team members, engineers and workers.

 

Before showing green signal to the Metro, Chouhan performed rituals like ‘Kanya Poojan’. Chief Minister Chouhan said that with the commencement of Metro in Bhopal, our horse-drawn Bhopal has now become a Metro rail Bhopal. With this new revolution of transportation Bhopal will run at a faster pace on the path of development. He said that the Metro would not only be limited within the city, it would also be extended up to Mandideep and Sehore. If required, it would even be extended up to Vidisha also, he added. It is convenient as the public will reach their destination in less time, safe travel, automatic operation, no fear of road accidents, elderly people and women are also safe in it. The Metro will take everyone equally. He also added Bhopal Metro is being built around at a cost of Rs 6,940 crore which covers 31 kilometres.

 

In this event, Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang, Bhopal Mayor Malti Rai, MLAs Rameshwar Sharma, Krishna Gaur, former Mayor Alok Sharma, Dhruv Narayan Singh, Principal Secretary of Urban Development and Housing Neeraj Mandloi, Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation Limited Manish Singh and other senior officials, public representatives were present. On this occasion, Principal Secretary Neeraj Mandloi presented a replica of the Metro to Chief Minister Chouhan as a souvenir.