All Mumbai suburban trains will get AC compartments but no fare hike: CM Devendra Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced today in state legislative assembly that soon all suburban trains in Mumbai will have AC compartments but ruled out any ticket fare rise. The announcement received applause from all the benches in the assembly.

He was replying to the concluding week's motion introduced by the opposition on Friday in the legislative assembly. Fadnavis said that during a meeting in the morning, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav assured him that his proposal to convert suburban trains into AC trains was being positively considered by the central government.

Pointing out that Mumbai was changing and getting a makeover under his government, Fadnavis informed the house that the proposed coastal road up to Virar, the Virar-Alibaug road corridor, twin tunnel projects linking Thane and Borivali, the underground tunnel from Orange Gate to Girgaon Chowpatty and other similar infra projects have been sanctioned and are under way.

"Soon there will be one ticket system for all modes of transport in Mumbai. The trials are going on and they are successful. People can soon seamlessly travel in local train, buses and metros," said Fadnavis.

In his speech that lasted more than an hour, Fadnavis touched issues related to almost all departments of his government. Replying to a query, he asserted that Nagpur was not the crime capital in Maharashtra and the overall crime rate was decreasing both in Nagpur and in Mumbai.

He also spoke about free electricity to farmers during daytime and how state's need of 16,000 megawatt of power for agriculture would soon be fulfilled with the help of solar energy.

He said that Metro Line 3 would be operational by the end of the year and the Navi Mumbai airport would also start functioning from October onwards.

India