Mumbai:
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday traveled by a local train from Ghatkopar in Mumbai to Kalyan station in neighboring Thane district. People were also surprised to see the Finance Minister among them. Nirmala Sitharaman interacted with many passengers during her 30 kilometer journey.
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The Finance Minister also posted some pictures on 'X' of his journey by local train, which is called the 'lifeline' of Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
smt @nsitharaman interacts with commuters while traveling from Ghatkopar to Kalyan in a Mumbai local train. pic.twitter.com/T15BdC3f5V
— Nirmala Sitharaman Office (@nsitharamanoffc) February 24, 2024
More than 65 lakh people travel by suburban trains every day in the Mumbai region.
Kumar Mangalam Birla, group chairman and chancellor of the institute, said the Rs 1,600 crore campus, spread over 60 acres in Kalyan area near the metropolis, has a total capacity of 5,000 students.
Started in 1964 in Birla's native village Pilani in the Marwar region of Rajasthan, this institute has 80,000 students studying in five campuses – Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad, Dubai and Kalyan.
Declaring the new campus operational, Sitharaman said the institute has produced 7,300 Fortune 500 chief executive officers (CEOs), 300 academicians of global repute and 600 civil servants. It has also produced 6,200 startups, while its 'incubation centres' have given birth to 170 startups, of which 30 have become 'unicorns'.