West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is unlikely to attend the inauguration programme of several railway projects by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday in Hooghly, according to sources.
Today, PM Modi will inaugurate the extension of Metro Railway from Noapara to Dakshineswar, and flag off the first service on this stretch. This 4.1 km extension has been constructed at a cost of Rs 464 crore, fully funded by the central government. It will decongest road traffic and improve urban mobility. This extension will ease access to the two Kali temples at Kalighat and Dakshineswar, for lakhs of tourists and devotees.
The two newly built stations namely Baranagar and Dakshineswar have modern passenger amenities and are also aesthetically designed and decorated with murals, photographs, sculptures and idols.
PM Modi will also inaugurate the third line between Kalaikunda and Jhargram over a stretch of 30 km of the 132 km long Kharagpur-Adityapur Third Line Project of South Eastern Railway, which was sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs 1,312 crore.
He will also dedicate to the nation the doubling of Azimganj to Khargraghat Road section, which is a part of the Howrah-Bandel-Azimganj section of Eastern Railway, which has been laid at a project cost of about Rs 240 crore.
The tussle between Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has intensified ahead of the Assembly polls in Bengal.
Notably, Mamata Banerjee did not deliver her speech "in protest" at an event at Victoria Memorial in Kolkata where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose after 'Jai Shree Ram' slogans were raised when she was invited to speak.
Elections for 294 Assembly seats in West Bengal are likely to take place in April-May this year.
( With inputs from ANI )
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