NEW DELHI:Commuters were taken by surprise when they saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi boarding a metro train at Janpath Metro Station on Sunday to reach Bata Chowk Metro Station at Faridabad in Haryana.
Even the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials were puzzled as the Prime Minister was earlier scheduled to reach Bata Chowk onboard a chopper.
Modi interacted with fellow passengers, who also took selfies with him on his way to Faridabad to inaugurate the extension of the Badarpur line connecting the satellite city with the national capital.
The Prime Minister boarded the Metro around 10 am to reach Bata Chowk, over 30 km away, some 50 minutes later. DMRC managing director Mangu Singh accompanied him.
Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister for Rural Development Chaudhary Birender Singh, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki received the Prime Minister at the Bata Chowk Station around 11 am.
In the evening, Modi inaugurated the Badarpur-Faridabad Metro extending till Escorts Mujesar.
“Residents of Faridabad were waiting for the inauguration of this corridor for long. It is a huge relief,” said Kapil Jaglan, a private firm employee who took the train from Bata Chowk.
“Now I can reach ITO from Faridabad in a hassle-free one-hour ride,” he added.
The Rs 2,900-crore project from Badarpur to Escorts Mujesar in Faridabad is a 13.87-km-long corridor, which is an extension of the already functional ITO-Badarpur section of the Delhi Metro’s Violet line.
The estimated daily ridership by year-end is approximately 1.95 lakh commuters.
Former President Pratibha Patil had in 2012 used the Metro, thus becoming the first President to travel on the modern transport system.