PM Modi to inaugurate Namma Metro Yellow Line, launch Phase 3 works on August 10
Surya added that the combined projects will benefit nearly 25 lakh residents in his constituency and surrounding areas, adding, 'With nearly Rs 20,000 crore worth of Metro infrastructure dedicated to this region alone, we are incredibly grateful to PM Modi for his continued focus, affection, and commitment to Bengaluru South's public transport infrastructure.'
Services on the Yellow Line will initially operate with only three trains, while a fourth train is expected to join the fleet soon. The line, which faced multiple delays, is finally set to be commissioned for public use, with operations gradually ramping up as more rakes are deployed.
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Indian Express
10 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Can Bhagwant Mann govt tide over farmer discontent as 2020-like protest brews?
With about a year and a half to go for the Punjab Assembly elections, a 2020-like protest is brewing in the state against the controversial land pooling policy, putting the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on a sticky wicket. The policy that was rolled out in June and hailed as the 'future of urban development' has been criticised by farmers, the Opposition, and even some sections of the AAP. The policy aims to acquire over 65,000 acres of land from 164 villages for urban development projects and promises monetary compensation, commercial and residential plot returns, and long-term value appreciation. While the Bhagwant Mann government has repeatedly stressed that the policy is voluntary and farmer-friendly, farmer organisations such as the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), SKM (Non-Political), and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) have expressed concerns about it almost immediately after rollout. The July 30 tractor march across all 164 affected villages has set the tone for what seems like a 2020-style protest. 'Resistance is building across villages as people are becoming aware of the harmful effects. They have not yet started full-scale protests,' said SKM's national coordination committee member Balbir Singh Rajewal. The protest epicentre is Ludhiana, where the government has proposed to pool 40,000 acres of land, of which 20,000 acres have been earmarked for industrial areas. Here, people in the villages of Malak, Aligarh, Pona, and Agwar Gujaran (Jagraon) were among the first to put up boards declaring that AAP leaders were not welcome. They were soon joined by several others across the state. In some villages, AAP sarpanches are leading the protests while the party's block presidents in Jodhan and Dakha in Ludhiana, and Kotkapura in Faridkot district have resigned in protest against the policy. Some senior party leaders have also voiced their concern about the policy. On July 24, AAP's Anandpur Sahib MP Malvinder Singh Kang urged his party to hold dialogue with farmer bodies to 'win their trust before moving ahead'. He later deleted the post. The party's Ropar MLA, Dinesh Chadha, told farmers of his constituency that 'even an inch of land would not be acquired without their consent'. Taking note of the growing dissent, the Mann government tweaked the policy on July 22. It increased the annual compensation from Rs 50,000 per acre to Rs 1 lakh with an annual hike of 10% and permitted farmers to cultivate the land till physical possession is taken, among other benefits. However, demanding a complete rollback, farmers' unions have rejected the changes, terming them 'cosmetic'. 'Mann must be reminded of our 2020 struggle against the farm laws. He wants to acquire our fertile land. We won in 2020 and we will win this fight too,' said Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president of the BKU (Urgahan). What has seemingly cornered the AAP further is the Opposition's united stand against the policy. Since the policy's rollout, the Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BJP have been organising rallies, dharnas and outreach campaigns at the district-level. State Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring last week said if elected to power in 2027, the party would scrap the policy. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal, while accusing the AAP of 'hoodwinking farmers', referred to the scheme as a 'land-grabbing policy'. The BJP has called the policy 'anti-farmer and deceitful' and promised to take the farmers' concerns to Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, with state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar submitting a memorandum to him in this regard. 'While the BJP is not fully welcome in villages, at least we are not facing protests and that is a relief,' said a BJP leader, referring to the backlash that party leaders faced in the run-up to last year's Lok Sabha polls. Will AAP calibrate its stance? Since the backlash in rural areas, which are seen as an AAP stronghold, the ruling party leadership has seemingly gone silent. While CM Mann, who hailed the policy as 'remarkable', has not spoken about it since the protests began, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal also avoided the subject during his Punjab visit on July 31 and August 1. However, a day later, Mann said his government 'will do what the people and farmers want'. 'We are not dictators,' he added. For the party, which swept rural Punjab in 2017, farmer distrust and seemingly waning support from the community are a big blow as fears of the party ceding space to the BJP mount. 'The anger we had against the BJP in 2020, we feel it for AAP now. We are starting to regret bringing the AAP to power,' said Didar Singh Malak, a farmer in Malak village in Ludhiana district. Sources in the housing and urban development department said the government was planning to 'go slow' on the policy's implementation. 'Instead of aggressively rolling the policy out across the state, the government is likely to implement it in a few zones like Ludhiana, Mohali and Patiala,' a source said, adding a few realtors had consented to the acquisition of 300 acres in Ludhiana, 150 acres in Patiala, and 50 acres in Mohali. Another source said successes in small clusters would be demonstrated before seeking broader farmer participation. Farmer unions, however, seem to be in no mood to relent and have decided to escalate the protests through a series of mahapanchayats. While the SKM (non-political) will hold a mahapanchayat in Ludhiana on August 7, the KMM and SKM will hold theirs on August 20 and 24, respectively. The KMM will also hold a statewide motorcycle march on August 11, while a permanent dharna by the Zameen Bachao Punjab Bachao Sangharsh Committee has been going on outside the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) office since July 20.
Indian Express
10 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Potholed Mumbai: 4 VIP wards in Mumbai stand out with only 127 pothole complaints per ward as against an average of 355 in others
It was hard to find a road that is pothole-free this monsoon but a closer look reveals a disparity in the maintenance of city roads. According to data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the number of pothole-related complaints recorded from four high-profile municipal wards — covering areas such as Malabar hills, Colaba, Worli and Bandra (West) — is significantly lower than complaints from the other 20 wards. The civic body's newly launched 'My Pothole, Quick Fix' dashboard shows that between June 1 and August 1, a total of 7,621 pothole complaints were recorded from all the 24 municipal wards in Mumbai, out of which around 510 complaints (an average of 127 per ward) or only 6.69% came from these four wards. The civic body's data shows that these four municipal wards have a total road length of 275.28 kilometres, which accounts to 13.41% of Mumbai's total road length. Of these four wards, A ward recorded 64 pothole complaints, followed by 116 at D ward, 116 at G south and 214 at H west. The remaining 20 wards, on the other hand, accounted for 7,111 pothole complaints at an average of 355 per ward. Mumbai has 24 municipal wards divided across seven zones in the island city, eastern and western suburbs. Of the 24 wards, A (Churchgate, Colaba), D (Malabar Hill, Altamount Road, Pedder Road), G south (Worli), and H west (Bandra west) are considered to be high-profile wards in Mumbai since they house important government offices, private institutions and residences of top businessmen, politicians, bureaucrats, and celebrities in the country. Churchgate and Colaba house the state secretariat (Mantralaya) and major government buildings, financial institutions and BMC headquarters, while Malabar Hill houses the official bungalows of chief minister, deputy chief minister and Altamount Road houses residences of high-profile citizens, including industrialist Mukhesh Ambani. Municipal wards that are not labelled as 'high-profile' have recorded a surge in pothole-related complaints, despite some of them being the highest tax paying wards in Mumbai. BMC data shows that four other municipal wards like S (Bhandup, Kanjurmarg) alone recorded 1,499 pothole related complaints, followed by 712 complaints recorded from K west (Andheri west), 393 complaints recorded from K east (Andheri East), and 312 complaints recorded in H east (Bandra East, Santacruze East, Khar East) and accounting to a total of 2,916 or 38.26% of the total pothole complaints in Mumbai. The civic body's data also shows these four wards are some of the highest tax paying municipal wards in Mumbai, contributing to 33.12% of the total annual property tax collected. Mumbai has one of the highest property tax rates in the country and in the previous financial year, the BMC generated Rs 4,857 crore in property tax, out of which Rs 1,609.35 crore or 33.12% came from these four wards with K east emerging as the highest tax paying ward of Mumbai, followed by H east at the second position, K west at the fourth position and S ward at the sixth position, out of the 24 municipal wards in Mumbai. For the ongoing financial year, the state government has also hiked the ready-reckoner rates in the state — a move that led to an overall hike in property tax rates by 15%-20%. Pothole-related complaints come at a time when the BMC has taken up a mammoth road concretising project of Rs 17,000 crore — a pet project of deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde. As part of this project, the civic body intends to concretise 700 kilometres of roads to prevent potholes. So far, 49 per cent of the project is completed. Municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani told The Indian Express, 'A lot of these complaints that are being registered in the application are duplicate… The process of scrutinising the complaints and filling the potholes is continuous and ongoing.' Besides the BMC's pothole fixit dashboard, the civic body's ward level engineers are also inspecting the minor roads of Mumbai for potholes, however, this data have not been made available in the public domain. 'Of these eight municipal wards, four are located in the western suburbs, which has the longest length of road network in the city. The Western Express Highway (WEH) also passes through this stretch and the number of potholes witnesses a sharp rise from these areas,' a civic official told The Indian Express. 'This year, Mumbai has also witnessed an early onset of monsoon and the first two months recorded above normal rainfall, affecting the road condition. Concretising project is not yet complete and most of the complaints that we are seeing now are being recorded mainly from roads that are yet to be concretised,' the official added. The BMC's ambitious Rs 17,000-crore project aims to concretise 700 kilometres of roads in the city, with 320 km (700 roads) pegged to be concretised in phase 1 and 378 km (1,421 roads) proposed to be done under phase 2. Mumbai has a road network of 2,050 km, of which 1,333 km roads are already concretised. It is the remaining 700 kilometres of asphalt and paver block roads that the civic body has taken up for concretisation under its mega drive, with the objective of enhancing connectivity and eliminating potholes. Until the concretisation project work was stalled in May, owing to monsoon onset, the BMC said that it already achieved 63 per cent of the target in the first phase with 101.67 km of roads (or 343 roads) completely concretised and 101.68 km partially completed. Meanwhile, in the second phase, 36 per cent of the target has been achieved until May 31 with 84.33 km of road length concretised. In contrast, until May 31 in 2024, the civic body had achieved only 26 per cent of the concretisation works in phase I, while the work on the second phase commenced only in December 2024.
News18
19 minutes ago
- News18
Bengaluru: PM Modi To Launch Yellow Line Metro On August 10, Lay Foundation For Phase 3 Expansion
Last Updated: Along with launching the much-awaited Yellow Line, PM Modi will also lay the foundation stone for Phase-3 of the Namma Metro project. BJP leader Tejasvi Surya on Sunday announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Bengaluru and inaugurate the Yellow Line Metro on August 10. Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone for Metro Phase-3, he said. In a post on 'X', Surya said, 'Hon. PM Sri @narendramodi Ji's visit to Bengaluru on August 10 will be a landmark moment for Bengaluru South. He will not only inaugurate the long-awaited Yellow Line Metro operations but also lay the foundation stone for Metro Phase 3 – a project that received Cabinet approval within the first 100 days of his third term." He said the Yellow Line will cater to close to eight lakh riders and the 'infamous Silk Board jam' will be addressed greatly. Public transport is the only option to reduce traffic congestion. 'Together, these projects will benefit nearly 25 lakh people in Bengaluru South," he said. The MP said by inaugurating it on August 10, the Yellow Line Metro project would meet the August 15 deadline. Surya, who is also the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) national president, quoted Union Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who said on 'X', 'I am pleased to announce that the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India has kindly agreed to inaugurate 19.15 km Yellow Line from RV Road to Bommasandra of Bangaluru metro with 16 stations at the cost of Rs 5,056.99 crore and lay the foundation stone of 44.65 km of Bangalore phase-3 at the cost of Rs 15,611 Crore on 10th August 2025." Surya had staged a demonstration to open the Yellow Line of Bengaluru Metro Rail project recently. view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
