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As reported by BusinessLine on November 27, the new Maharashtra government has questioned the priority given to PM Narendra Modi’s ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said that the government will revive the project and also decide on prioritising the projects.
“This government is of the common man. Like you asked now, yes, we will review the bullet train (project). Have I stayed the bullet train project like Aarey car-shed? No, I haven’t,” Uddhav Thackeray told reporters here late Sunday night. Thackeray added that his government would not work in a vindictive manner.
BJP’s ambitious project — inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in Ahmedabad in September, 2017 — is expected to be ready by 2022. Funded by a soft loan from Japan’s JICA, the ₹1-trillion project has a track-length of 508 km from the Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai to Sabarmati, Gujarat.
A major chunk of Shiv Sena leaders has already expressed their opinion that the bullet train must not be the priority for the State. The tribal communities in Palghar distirct have opposed the land acquisition for the project. Of the total 1,400 hectares required for the project, 353 hectares will come from Maharashtra villages; while the rest will be acquired in Gujarat.
Former CM Devendra Fadnavis has said that the State will not have to put in any money for the bullet train project, but will have to just acquire the required land. BJP MLA Ashish Shelar said that the government’s approach towards the infrastructure projects will send a negative signal.
Meanwhile, the State has also decided to withdraw the cases filed against environmentalists during the agitations against the construction of Aarey Metro car-shed.
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