French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday took an “eco friendly” Metro ride to Gurgaon to inaugurate the interim secretariat of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
The two leaders boarded the Metro shortly after 3 pm. Indian officials and the French delegation, including the country’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, were seen accompanying them. Official twitter handles, @Elysee and @PMOIndia, posted pictures of the journey. In one of the pictures, Modi and Hollande are seen standing at the platform of the Race Course station. “An eco friendly ride! PM @narendramodi and Prez @fhollande travel on Delhi metro on way to Gurgaon,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted. The National Institute of Social Energy (NISE) was on Monday officially inaugurated by Modi and Hollande in Gurgaon. The foundation stone for the interim secretariat of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) was laid in Gurgaon’s Gwalpahari area in a 5-acre land of the institute.
France will be allocating 300 million euros in the next five years for the development of solar energy to NISE.
“The French Development Agency will allocate 300 million euros to develop solar energy over the next five years in order to finance the initial projects,” Hollande said at a function held to lay the foundation stone of the ISA headquarters and inaugurate an interim secretariat of the same.
Due to this VVIP movement, the Millennium City also witnessed jam-packed traffic on some of its main roads connecting Gurgaon and Delhi.
Commuters faced a harrowing experience on Monday from the morning as the final arrangements were being put in place ahead of the visit.
Cops were deployed along the route to be taken by the PM and the French President ie, MG Road and the Gurgaon-Faridabad Road.