Lucknow Metro thrown open to public, CM Adityanath, Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurate phase-I

The first train was flagged off by the home minister, who represents the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat, and the chief minister from the Transport Nagar metro station.

Lucknow has joined the elite list of cities in the country having metro rail services. 

Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow today joined the list of cities having Metro train services. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath flagged off the maiden run of the Lucknow Metro.

The first train was flagged off by the home minister, who represents the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat, and the chief minister from the Transport Nagar metro station.

The services will be opened for public use from Wednesday (September 6).

The 8.5-km-long 'Priority Corridor' from Transport Nagar to Charbagh, which is part of the Phase-1 of the project, will be operational for the public from 6 am to 10 pm everyday.

The 8.5-km long from Transport Nagar to Charbagh Phase 1 was inaugurated by CM Adityanath and Home Minister Rajnath Singh. 

Former CM Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav had flagged off the trial run on the same stretch in December last year, just ahead of the Assembly elections, to showcase it as a signature project of the then Samajwadi Party government.

However, the home minister's presence at the inauguration event is a strong signal from the BJP that it was the Narendra Modi government at the Centre which contributed the bulk of the funds to the project.

The BJP had attacked the Akhilesh government during the Assembly election campaign, asking why metro trains were not running in Lucknow.

As the matter got embroiled in politics, Akhilesh had shot back saying it was due to the delay in obtaining clearance from the commissioner, Metro Railway Safety, and had blamed the Centre for it.