PM Modi opens Bengaluru Metro Pink Line stretch and LED dome planetarium; Shivakumar presses for Mekedatu nod

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a new stretch of Bengaluru's Namma Metro Pink Line and the COSMOS-Mysuru planetarium on Friday, as part of a package of projects in Karnataka valued at over Rs 15,600 crore. Chief Minister D K Shivakumar used a shared platform to press the Centre on several pending state demands.

Metro, power and rail projects

The elevated Pink Line section from Kalena Agrahara to Tavarekere is about 7.5 km long, has six stations and cost an estimated Rs 3,470 crore. It is expected to improve links in south Bengaluru and take the city's metro network past 100 km, though the underground stretch towards north Bengaluru is still being built. Modi rode the metro from Tavarekere to the IIM-Bangalore station.

Other projects included renewable energy transmission lines in Koppal, Gadag and Bidar, an underground LPG storage cavern of 80,000 tonnes in Mangaluru, an MRPL marketing terminal, a compressed biogas plant at Haralakunte and rail works on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru route. He also flagged off the Bengaluru-Mangaluru-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express.

Speaking in Bengaluru, Modi said the projects would strengthen Karnataka's infrastructure and help commuters save time and money. He said India's renewable energy capacity had crossed 300 GW and linked energy security to the ongoing conflict in the Gulf region.

Planetarium in Mysuru

In Mysuru, the Prime Minister opened COSMOS-Mysuru, built by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics on the University of Mysore campus and described as India's first LED dome planetarium, with a 15-metre tilted dome. He said science and spirituality go together in India, and cited Chandrayaan-3, satellite docking and the opening of the space sector to private firms as signs of progress.

State's demands

At the Mysuru event, Shivakumar asked the Centre to speed up statutory clearances for the Mekedatu balancing reservoir, a project opposed by Tamil Nadu, and to withdraw the Kasturirangan panel's recommendations on the Western Ghats. Separately, he asked the Centre to share equally in the operating losses of metro projects, saying the state carries a heavier burden. No response from the Centre to these demands had been reported by Friday night.

The visit came days before Modi's scheduled trip to Manila for the ASEAN-India and East Asia summits.