Agra, Dec 5 Agra district officials said on Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually green signal the launching of the ambitious Agra Metro Project that will help reduce environmental pollution in the Taj City.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri are expected to be present in the launching programme for which a huge hangar is being developed to seat 300-odd guests on Fatehabad Road here. Officials said Modi would be virtually launching the project at 12 noon on Monday and address the gathering for around 18 minutes.
The UP Metro Rail Corporation expects the project to be completed before 2024. The metro will connect all major tourist attractions in the city. Two separate corridors are being developed that will criss-cross the city. The first section between the eastern gate of the Taj Mahal and the Jama Masjid in the heart of the city should be completed in three years, officials indicated.
The environmental impact assessment studies have already been conducted by committees of experts and heritage conservationists.
Though decks have been cleared for the long-awaited Rs 8,000 crore Agra Metro project, green activists are asking why the sad state of the river Yamuna in the Taj city has been ignored.
Local activists in a series of tweets have reminded the Prime Minister of his promise to clean up the Yamuna in Agra. They expect the PM to green signal the Yamuna barrage project hanging fire for the last three decades. The barrage is planned to be constructed downstream of the Taj Mahal.
River activist Devashish Bhattacharya said "we have requested the prime minister to include river Yamuna cleaning in his address. The Yamuna has been reduced to a huge sewage canal carrying industrial effluents and sewage from upstream cities. The polluted water of the river is a threat to the Mughal monuments along the banks of the river."
During election speeches before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the prime minister had promised to take up the Yamuna cleaning project on priority. Later, the union transport minister on several occasions promised to start a ferry service between Delhi and Agra in the Yamuna.
"Sadly, they have forgotten the river Yamuna, which is the lifeline of the whole Braj Mandal and sustains the good health of several historical monuments including the Taj Mahal along its banks," added green activists Nandan, Jugal, Rahul Raj and Deepak Rajput.
( With inputs from IANS )
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