Fact Check: No new university, airport or metro in Gujarat in last 2 decades of BJP rule?

India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found there are more than nine universities in Gujarat, many of which were built after 2001. At present, there are 17 airports in Gujarat and the metro rail link was inaugurated this year by PM Modi.

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India Today Fact Check

Claim
No new university, airport or metro in Gujarat in the last two decades
Fact Check: No new university, airport or metro in Gujarat in last 2 decades of BJP rule?
Fact

In the last two decades, many universities, a few airports and the metro rail in Ahmedabad have been started.

A viral post on social media claims that in the last two decades of BJP rule in Gujarat, there has been no new university or airport in the state. The post claims there are nine universities and nine airports in Gujarat, all of which were built when Congress was in power in the state. The post also claims that the Ahmedabad metro rail, whose foundation stone was laid in 2005, has not been completed yet.

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Facebook user Anil Shriwastwa uploaded a post in Hindi, which in English translates to, "Do you know? There are nine universities and nine airports in Gujarat!! And all these were made not by Sahab but Congress. In fact, the Ahmedabad metro rail, whose foundation stone was laid by Sahab in 2005, has not been completed. And he questions what Congress has done in 60 years. And his blind followers clap!!"

In a comment below the post, Anil Shriwastwa mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014.

India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found there are more than nine universities in Gujarat, many of which were built after 2001. At present, there are 17 airports in Gujarat and the metro rail link was inaugurated this year by PM Modi.

The archived version of the post can be seen here. Some other Facebook users have posted the same claim. Since there are three different claims, let us examine them separately.

The truth about Gujarat universities

To verify the claim about universities, we searched the Internet for Gujarat government’s education department website and found that the state has 59 universities at present. Among these, 18 are state universities, four agriculture, three central government, two private aided and 32 private.

AFWA found that many state universities such as Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kachchh University established in 2004, Gujarat Technological University set up in 2007, Gujarat Forensic Sciences University and Kamdhenu University established in 2008, were all set up after 2001, i.e. during BJP and Modi’s tenure.

The truth about Gujarat airports

We found the website of Gujarat State Aviation Infrastructure Company Limited which states that there are 19 airports in Gujarat, including two in the neighbouring Union Territory of Daman and Diu. So in Gujarat, there are 17 airports, of which nine are operated by the Airport Authority of India.

Three airports are operated by the Indian Air Force, of which two have civil terminals. Three other airports are with the state government, which are used for training and other purposes. Two airports are private.

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We spoke to Gujarat civil aviation minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama who said, When Narendra Modi was Gujarat CM, many airstrips were constructed so that if the central government gave a go-ahead for construction of airports, they could be made operational within a month. Moreover, Porbandar and Jamnagar airports became operational in 2007 when BJP led the government in Gujarat. Rajkot became an international airport and other airstrips such as the one in Mehsana are used for training purposes.

A news article in The Times of India reported that the government was planning to construct more airports in Gujarat in 2011.

However, in the case of airports, we could not independently verify as to when each of these airports became operational.

The truth about Ahmedabad metro rail

We looked up for news articles related to Ahmedabad metro rail on the Internet and found that the first phase of the project was inaugurated this year by PM Modi.

As CM of Gujarat, Modi had laid the foundation stone in 2005, but due to certain issues such as surveys and clearances from the central government details of which can be read in this Business Standard report the project got delayed.

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The construction of the project started in 2015 and the first phase was inaugurated on March 4 this year. Details of the event can be read here.

Conclusion

Clearly, the claim made by many social media users that there are only nine universities and nine airports in Gujarat is not true. Many universities and airports were set up in the last two decades. Even the first phase of the Ahmedabad metro rail project has been inaugurated.

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