Surat will soon be known as 'Electric Vehicle city', says PM

Surat, Sep 29 (IANS) Surat, which has multiple identities like 'Sonani Murat', 'Textile city', 'Diamond City', 'Setu City' will soon have another -- Electric Vehicle city --,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on Thursday.

While addressing a gathering here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the city which already has many titles will soon be called 'Electric Vehicle city', given the increasing electric vehicles numbers and public charging stations.

He dedicated 25 public charging stations and laid foundation stones for 24 more and hoped that the number would increase to 500.

During his two-day visit from Thursday, Modi is scheduled to dedicate and lay foundations stones for projects worth thousands of crores. It also includes the dream city project of diamond sector, dedicated Sewerage Treatment plant besides others.

He promised to start a train from Surat to Kashi with a cargo capacity upto one tonne which will help textile industries to transport textile cargos to East Uttar Pradesh. Currently, cargoes are transported through roads.

The Centre has approved a power loom mega cluster project for Surat. Once it gets functional, high speed power looms will be operational reducing the noise pollution, said the Prime Minister.

He also promised to increase the fleet in the Ro-Ro ferry service connecting Saurashtra and South Gujarat through Ghogha -Hazira routes.