Modi inaugurates world's longest rly platform in K'taka's Hubballi

BENGALURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the world's longest railway platform, and the country's first green Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), in Karnataka's Dharwad district, an official said.

The railway platform at Siddharudha Swamiji Railway Station in Hubballi is 1,505 meters (over 1 km) long. Earlier, the length of the platform was 550 meters. According to sources in South Western Railway, the platform has now entered the Guinness Book of Records.

PM Modi has also inaugurated the country's first eco-friendly, green IIT campus in Dharwad city, built at a cost of Rs 852 crore. Appreciating the project, the Prime Minister also took a tour of the campus along with Union Minister for Mine, Coal and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi, and other dignitaries, an official said.

Joshi, who delivered welcome speech, said "the IIT at Dharwad has been established with the blessings of PM Modi". "He (PM Modi) laid the foundation stone for the project on February 10, 2019," Joshi said.

PM Modi, while addressing the gathering, said that the double-engine government has provided a new speed to the development process. "We not only lay foundation stone but inaugurate and dedicate projects.

This is the aim of the double-engine government," he said. "Four years ago, I laid the foundation stone for the IIT campus in Dharwad. Today, I have inaugurated it. I have also got the opportunity to dedicate the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway," PM Modi said.