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PoliticsPrime Minister

Modi to open Bengaluru Pink Line and launch Rs 15,600 crore of projects on Friday, then visit Ambaji temple

The Prime Minister's two-day tour starts in Bengaluru and Mysuru on November 13 with a metro ride, a Vande Bharat flag-off and a planetarium, and ends at the Ambaji Shakti Peeth in Gujarat on November 14.

From the editorial desk · New DelhiEdited by Puneet PanesarPublished
Narendra Modi (file photo)
Narendra Modi (file photo) Photos: Ms Sarah Welch / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; Moheen Reeyad / Wikimedia Commons; SpeakingArch / Wikimedia Commons; Qurren / Wikimedia Commons

₹15,600 cr projects to be launched in Bengaluru

₹3,470 cr Pink Line, Kalena Agrahara to Tavarekere

4.5 GW renewable power evacuation capacity opened

Key points

  • Modi will launch projects worth over ₹15,600 crore in Bengaluru on Friday, November 13.
  • He will flag off the Bengaluru-Mangaluru-Madgaon Vande Bharat and ride the new Pink Line metro.
  • On Saturday, November 14, he will offer prayers at the Ambaji Temple in Banaskantha, Gujarat.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Karnataka on Friday, November 13, to open the Bengaluru Metro’s Pink Line and launch projects worth over ₹15,600 crore, before going to Gujarat on Saturday for prayers at the Ambaji Temple, according to an official release issued on Wednesday, November 11.

The Karnataka leg covers Bengaluru and Mysuru. It starts with a function at a yoga university and ends with the inauguration of a planetarium.

The Karnataka schedule

At about 10:45 am Modi will attend the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Prashanti Kutiram, the residential headquarters of S-VYASA, a yoga university, and address the gathering. He will lay the foundation stone of its Golden Jubilee Administrative Block and launch the S-VYASA off-campus at Thiruvananthapuram. The celebrations run from November 13 to 23 under the theme “Towards Viksit Bharat 2047” and also mark the birth centenary of H V Sheshadri, a former RSS general secretary who held the post from 1987 to 2000.

At about 12:45 pm he will flag off the metro and ride from Tavarekere to IIM Bangalore station. At about 1:15 pm he will address a public gathering where the ₹15,600 crore of projects will be inaugurated, dedicated to the nation or have their foundation stones laid.

In Mysuru, at about 3:30 pm, he will plant trees at Bharat Vann under the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign. At about 4 pm he will inaugurate the COSMOS-Mysuru Planetarium.

What is being opened

Metro. The Pink Line section from Kalena Agrahara to Tavarekere, costing about ₹3,470 crore, will be inaugurated.

Power. Two transmission schemes will be inaugurated: the Phase-II renewable energy zone scheme at Koppal-II and Gadag-II (about ₹4,450 crore, able to carry about 2 GW), and the Bidar solar energy zone scheme (about ₹1,370 crore, 2.5 GW). Foundation stones will be laid for two more, in the Davanagere, Chitradurga and Ballari area (over ₹3,450 crore) and a Davanagere and Ballari strengthening project (over ₹1,100 crore).

Gas and fuel. Modi will dedicate India’s largest underground LPG storage cavern, at Mangaluru. It cost over ₹850 crore and holds 80,000 metric tonnes, and comes with a 9.4 km pipeline from New Mangalore Port to the main terminal. He will also dedicate the ₹330 crore MRPL Devangonthi marketing terminal in Bengaluru and lay the foundation of a GAIL compressed biogas plant at Haralakunte that is to process about 300 tonnes of municipal solid waste a day into 12.6 tonnes of biogas.

Railways. The Bengaluru-Mangaluru-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express will be flagged off. It will serve Hassan, Sakleshpur, Mangaluru, Udupi, Murdeshwar, Gokarna, Karwar and Madgaon. Four redeveloped Amrit Bharat stations will open: Chamarajanagar, Chikkamagaluru, Sakleshpur and Subrahmanya Road. Modi will also dedicate the 45 km Bagalkot-Wandal doubling, part of the 284 km Gadag-Hotgi project, and the electrification of the 55 km Sakleshpur-Subrahmanya Road ghat section, which completes electrification of the Bengaluru-Mangaluru route.

Planetarium and the plantation

The COSMOS-Mysuru Planetarium is described as India’s first LED dome planetarium. Built by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics on the University of Mysore campus, it has a 15-metre tilted dome with about 6,150 panels and 4.2 crore LEDs, and runs shows in Kannada, English and Hindi.

Bharat Vann is an urban afforestation project over 17.63 acres, using the Miyawaki method, with a target of more than 2 lakh native trees.

Gujarat on Saturday

On November 14 Modi will perform darshan and pooja at the Ambaji Temple in Banaskantha district, one of the 51 Shakti Peethas. The release gives no timings for the Gujarat visit.

Why it matters

For Karnataka’s coastal and ghat districts, the Vande Bharat and the finished electrification of the Bengaluru-Mangaluru line change how the route is run. In Bengaluru, the Pink Line stretch adds to the city’s metro network. The two inaugurated transmission schemes together are meant to carry about 4.5 GW of renewable power out of Koppal, Gadag and Bidar.

What happens next

Modi is due in Bengaluru on Friday morning and in Mysuru in the afternoon. Saturday’s Ambaji visit is the last item announced.

The documents