The opposition to land acquisition in Maharashtra may make the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project miss its 2023 deadline.
While more than 97 per cent of land has been acquired for the project in Gujarat and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, just 30 per cent of land is acquired in Maharashtra.
Of the 508.17 km of the project, 155.76 km is in Maharashtra, 384.04 km in Gujarat and 4.3km in Dadra and Nagar Haveli..
“In Gujarat, nearly 90 per cent of the land has been handed over to the contractors for the construction work and the work is going on in full swing,” a senior National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) official told Hindustan Times.
“Construction work can only begin once we have 90 per cent of the land in our possession. Efforts are on to get the required land before construction-related contracts can be awarded in Maharashtra,” added the NHSRCL official.
Recently, Minister of State for Railways, Raosaheb Patil Danve, chaired a review meeting on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) and Mumbai – Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) project at the headquarters of Western Railway in Mumbai.
Emphasising the importance of these two projects, the minister directed authorities, including the state government officials, to expedite the work for completion of projects within the stipulated target period to avoid cost and time overruns.