Pune, March 15 Pune will get additional metro rail routes in May and July, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Sunday.
He was speaking after inaugurating Metro Bhavan, the headquarters of the MahaMetro Pune Project.
"Maharashtra is the first state to formulate a GCC (Global Capability Centres) policy, and in such a situation, mobility is very important. We are committed to making Pune congestion-free by building metro rail lines. We are also planning underground tunneling for uninterrupted mobility," he said.
Fadnavis admitted that metro rail work in the state's second largest city, also a major industrial and services hub, started late but construction was progressing rapidly now.
"In May and July, we will inaugurate more phases of the Pune metro rail. We have planned a network of 80 kilometres, and work on 55 kilometres is now nearing completion. The Hinjewadi metro line will start in May. Another 11 km of metro in Pune will be ready by May. There is also a plan to extend the metro line until the upcoming Purandar airport," he said.
A total of 200 kilometres of metro rail lines are planned for Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad together, he said, adding that the aim is to bring greater mobility to Pune's transportation system and make the city congestion-free.
Punekars like the metro rail, as around 25,000 passengers use the system daily, the CM added.