Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has paid homage to freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak on his 103rd death anniversary as he was conferred an award in his memory.
Prime Minister Modi is in Pune on August 1 to lay the foundation stone for various development projects.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), he will be conferred with the Lokmanya Tilak National Award at an event where he will share the stage with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar.
The Award was constituted by Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in 1983, to honour the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak. The award is given to people who have worked for the progress and development of the nation and whose contributions can only be looked upon as remarkable and extraordinary. It is presented every year on August 1st — Lokmanya Tilak’s death anniversary.
Modi becomes the 41st recipient of the award. The former recipients include luminaries such as Shankar Dayal Sharma, Pranab Mukherjee, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Indira Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, N.R. Narayana Murthy, and E. Sreedharan, among others.
Prime Minister Modi performed darshan and puja at Dagdusheth Mandir before being conferred with the Lokmanya Tilak National Award.
During his day-long Pune visit, PM Modi will also flag off Metro trains, marking the inauguration of services on completed sections of the two corridors of Pune Metro Phase I.
The design of some of the Metro stations on the route draws inspiration from Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji. The Civil Court Metro station is one of the deepest in the country, at 33.1 metres.
Prime Minister Modi will also inaugurate a waste-to-energy plant of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). Built at a cost of about Rs 300 crores, it will use up about 2.5 lakh MT of waste annually to produce electricity, the statement informed.
"Under the Housing for All, the Prime Minister will hand over more than 1,280 houses constructed under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana by PCMC. He will also hand over more than 2650 PMAY houses constructed by Pune Municipal Corporation. Further, the Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of around 1,190 PMAY houses to be constructed by PCMC, and of over 6400 houses constructed by Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority," the PMO said.
(ANI)