India To Have World's 2nd Largest Metro System In Two Years, Says Union Minister Puri

On Monday, May 20, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the country will be equipped with the world’s second-largest metropolitan metro system within the next two years and a half.

During a discussion with retired judges, veterans of the armed services, and intellectuals, the union Minister emphasised the growth of urban metro transit over the last decade.

Speaking to ANI at the event, Hardeep Puri said, “In today’s day, the fact that needs to be reiterated is that there are 1 crore people riding on the metro every day, and out of the 1 crore people, 73 lacks are the ridership of the capital region of Delhi.”

He said that despite the city’s enormous population growth, it is still possible to move from one particular area of the city to another in an appropriate amount of time.

“More people are taking to urban transport,” he stated.

He went on to say that the nation’s metro system has 945 kilometres that are “functioning” and another 1,000 kilometres that are “under construction.”

The minister further mentioned that India would have the second-largest urban transit metro in the world when this is completed in the next 2.5 years.

“Who would have thought of it when Vajpayee ji started this metro system back in 2002?” ANI quoted him saying.

The Union Minister also discussed the ongoing modernisation of both the police force and the criminal justice system, emphasising the advancements made during the previous ten years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.

Hardeep Singh Puri said, “The manifesto reads about modernising police forces and will assist states in transforming the police into a tech-savvy, tech-trained, and tech-equipped force through the police modernization scheme.”

Former commissioner of police in Delhi, BS Bassi, commended the administration of Prime Minister Modi for promoting “out of the box thinking.”

In his remarks, he also discussed the development of the Delhi Metro and mentioned the traffic chaos and infractions of the 1970s. He stated that it is commendable how the central government has expanded the Delhi metro.