Delhi Metro extended to Noida

Magenta line, Delhi’s first-ever outgoing metro line, to Noida from Kalkaji, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. Touted as a Christmas gift to the people of the National Capital Region (NCR) and although seven of the nine new stations fall in Delhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was conspicuous by his absence at the inaugural event.

While Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath was invited to the event by the Centre, Kejriwal was not. While Kejriwal has not made an issue of it, though Delhi Metro is jointly funded by the Centre and the Delhi Government, Aam Aadmi Party 9 AAP) took a swipe saying it did not expect anything better from the PM. It however hoped that the PM would announce a reduction in the metro fare, which had been raised twice earlier this year leading to a 20-50 per cent fall in the number of daily passengers.

Although the PM accepted in his address from Noida that “a change of mentality” where people “prefer to travel in a metro rather than private transport” is necessary for transforming the nation, he did not mention the price-hike and made no announcement.

Stressing on ‘good governance’, the PM claimed, “With the same procedures and the same manpower (as of the previous UPA government), my government has doubled up the work on double lines” but made no mention of the increasing number of Railway accidents. Overall, this year, 48 people have lost their lives and 188 were injured in train accidents. The figures were worse last year in 2016 when 238 deaths and 607 injuries were reported.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath declared, “We are going to bring new metro lines in Kanpur and Agra.”

The controversies over the program, however, started emerging from Sunday when Aam Aadmi Party accused the Prime Minister of “cheap-politics”.

Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh on Sunday accused the Modi government of "hatred" towards Arvind Kejriwal. This is the third Metro launch that Mr Kejriwal has not been invited to since 2015; PM Modi did the honours all three occasions. On Sunday, the Delhi Chief Minister reportedly refused to comment on any political matters.