PM Modi to visit Pune tomorrow, will launch development projects, receive Lokmanya Tilak National Award

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday visit Maharashtra's Pune city where he will lay the foundation stone of various development projects and also receive the Lokmanya Tilak National Award.

After his arrival, PM Modi will perform 'darshan and pooja' at Dagdusheth Mandir. At 11.45 am, he will be conferred the Lokmanya Tilak National Award, constituted by Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in 1983, to honour the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak, as per a statement issued by the Press Information Bureau (PIB).

NCP chief Sharad Pawar has been invited as chief guest for the event, organisers earlier said.

READ | Former State Bank of India chairman Rajnish Kumar reveals annual salary at India's richest public sector bank and its...

The award is given to people who have worked for the progress and development of the nation and whose contribution can only be looked upon as remarkable and extraordinary, the PIB statement said.

It is presented every year on August 1, the death anniversary of Lokmanya Tilak, the statement said.

Prime Minister Modi will become the 41st recipient of the award. It has previously been presented to luminaries such as Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, Pranab Mukherjee, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Indira Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, N R Narayana Murthy, E Sreedharan, among others.
At 12.45 pm, the prime minister will flag off Metro trains and inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for various development projects, the statement said.

Modi will flag off Metro trains marking the inauguration of services on completed sections of the two corridors of Pune Metro Phase I. These sections are from Phugewadi station to Civil Court station and Garware College station to Ruby Hall Clinic station, it said.

READ | Massive search continues as soldier goes missing in Kashmir, abduction suspected

The foundation stone for the project was also laid by PM Modi in 2016. The new sections will connect important places of Pune city like Shivaji Nagar, Civil Court, Pune Municipal Corporation office, Pune RTO, and Pune Railway Station.

The inauguration is an important step towards realising the vision of the prime minister to provide the citizens with modern and environment-friendly mass rapid urban transport systems across the country, the statement said.

Prime Minister Modi will also inaugurate the Waste to Energy Plant under Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC).

Moving ahead towards the mission of achieving housing for all, Prime Minister Modi will hand over more than 1,280 houses constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana by PCMC.

He will also hand over more than 2,650 PMAY houses constructed by the Pune Municipal Corporation. Further, Modi will also lay the foundation stone for around 1,190 PMAY houses to be constructed by the PCMC, and of more than 6,400 houses constructed by the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority, the statement said.