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Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted two new Vande Bharat Express trains to Maharashtra, spoke fondly about his close ties with the Dawoodi Bohra community and inaugurated road projects in Mumbai on Friday on his second visit to the metropolis in less than a month.
Modi said this year's Union budget has strengthened the middle class and given it more relief than was offered by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government (2004-14).
For income on which the UPA government imposed as much as 20 per cent tax, this budget has zero tax, he said after flagging off two Vande Bharat Express trains from Mumbai -- one to Solapur, a textile city in south-western Maharashtra, and the second one to Sainagar Shirdi, a popular temple town in Amhednagar district.
"Be it the salaried class or the middle class earning from trade and commerce, this Budget has made them happy,” the PM said, speaking after launching the two semi high-speed premium trains at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in south Mumbai in the afternoon.
Modi said people with an annual income of more than Rs 2 lakh were taxed before 2014, but his government initially increased the limit to Rs 5 lakh and now to Rs 7 lakh in the budget for 2023-24.
He also inaugurated elevated corridors from Vakola to Kurla and MTNL Junction to LBS Flyover on the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road and a vehicular underpass at Kurar village in suburban Malad.
The projects are aimed at easing road traffic congestion and streamlining the movement of vehicles in Mumbai.
After reaching Platform No. 18 of CSM T, the PM inspected the Mumbai-Sainagar Shirdi Vande Bharat train and interacted with its crew and a group of children inside the coach.
He said it was a huge day for Railways, especially for advanced connectivity in Maharashtra as this is the first time that two Vande Bharat trains have been flagged off on the same day.
The PM said these trains will connect economic hubs such as Mumbai and Pune to centres of faith, thereby benefiting those traveling for college, office, business, pilgrimage and agricultural purposes.
Travelling to sacred places like Shirdi, Nashik, Trimbakeshwar, and Panchvati will be made easier with the new Vande Bharat trains which will give a boost to tourism as well as pilgrimage, he said.
”Pilgrimages to Pandharpur, Solapur, Akkalkot and Tuljapur will also be made more accessible with the Mumbai-Solapur Vande Bharat Express,” he said.
Calling Vande Bharat train a grand picture of modern India, Modi said, ”It is a reflection of India's speed and scale.”
Ten Vande Bharat trains have started operating connecting 108 districts of 17 states of the country, he said.
The Mumbai-Solapur Vande Bharat Express will cover the 455 km distance between Mumbai and the textile city in 6 hours and 30 minutes, a saving of nearly one hour from current timings.
The Mumbai-Sainagar Shirdi Vande Bharat Express will take 5 hours and 25 minutes to cover the 343 km distance to the temple town.
Later in the evening, Modi inaugurated the fourth campus of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah Arabic Academy, a premier educational institute of the Dawoodi Bohra sect of the Muslim community, at Marol in suburban Andheri.
Presenting himself as a family member of the community and not as prime minister at the event, he fondly recalled his decades-old close ties with the social group.
The PM said the country has put an end to 40,000 compliances and decriminalised hundreds of legal provisions.
These laws adversely affected businesses of entrepreneurs, but the government is now standing firmly with job creators, he said.
"An atmosphere of unprecedented trust has been created in the last few years," he said.
The PM spoke about big fillip being given to medical education by his government and said a medical college is being opened in every district.
From 2004 to 2014, when the Congress-led UPA government was in office, 145 medical colleges were started in country. But after he assumed office in 2014, more than 260 medical colleges have been set up, Modi said.
"In the last eight years, every week, one university and two colleges were opened in country," he maintained and highlighted his government's push to higher education.
Effusively praising the Dawoodi Bohra community, Modi said its members have stood the test of transforming themselves according to changing times.
"l am here as a family member, not as prime minister,” he told the gathering.
This was Modi's second visit to the city in less than a month. On January 19, the PM inaugurated and laid foundation stones for infrastructure and healthcare projects worth more than Rs 38,000 crore in Mumbai.
His visit assumes significance in view of the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls.