Bullet train project acquires 60% land, but may fail to meet 2023 deadline

Apart from land acquisition, another major cause for concern before the project is cost escalation owing to a fall in the rupee against the Japanese yen.

Despite facing public protests and resistance from the Maharashtra government, the country’s first bullet train project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai has been able to acquire almost 60 per cent of the land required for the project. However, meeting the December 2023 deadline is still a cause for concern for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project on the back of the Covid-19 outbreak.

“We are on fast track. We have acquired 60 per cent of the land required for the project. Interestingly, in Gujarat it goes up to around 77 per cent,” said Achal Khare, managing director of the National High-Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL), the company in charge of India’s bullet train road map.

The total land requirement for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor project was reduced to 1,380.08 hectares (ha), from 1,434.47 ha late last year, mainly due to actual reconciliation of the project scope. Of the total land required, 1,004.91 ha is private land. So far, around 820-830 ha has been acquired by NHSRCL.

Adivasis, farmers in Maharashtra planning to march from Nashik to Mumbai

The march will commence on Wednesday from Mumbai Naka in central Nashik and reach Mumbai on February 27

Current Affairs: Afraid of being left out under government’s relief schemes, around 80,000 adivasis and farmers in Maharashtra are planning to begin a long march from Nashik to Mumbai to press upon their demands.

The march will commence on Wednesday from Mumbai Naka in central Nashik and reach Mumbai on February 27. The Nashik police, however, said that it was expecting a gathering of around 25,000 farmers from all across the state for which all necessary precautions have been taken.

A similar protest march, organized in March 2018, ended with promises from the state government to ensure farmers’ returns on agricultural commodities were 50 per cent higher than their cost of production, apart from loan waivers and other promises.

“Half of Maharashtra is facing drought this year due to uneven distribution of rainfall in the last monsoon season. To weed out farmers’ problems, therefore, we have listed five immediate demands which include: regular work under MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), cattle camps to look after animals in the state, compensation for crops damaged in the drought, payment of school and tuition fees of aggrieved farmers’ kids and provision of drinking water,” said Ashok Dhawale, President, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), the organiser of the long march…Read More