News Analysis India

Tag: bullet train project

  • Land acquisition completed for bullet train project except Godrej & Boyce plot: Maha govt to HC

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Monday informed the Bombay High Court that the land acquisition process on the entire line of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project has been completed except the plot owned by Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co Ltd at suburban Vikhroli.

    The state government and the company are embroiled in a legal dispute since 2019 over the acquisition of the company-owned land in Vikhroli for the bullet train project.

    Of the total 508.17 km of rail track between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, about 21 km is to be underground.

    One of the entry points to the underground tunnel falls on the land at Vikhroli (owned by Godrej).

    The company had last month filed a petition challenging an order passed by the Maharashtra government on September 15 awarding compensation to it for land acquisition for the bullet train project.

    On Monday, a division bench of Justices R D Dhanuka and S G Dige said it would commence hearing on the petition on December 5.

    Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, appearing for the state government, said the matter was urgent as the project is being held up.

    “The entire land required for the project is from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. The entire acquisition of land has been completed except for this patch (owned by Godrej),” Kumbhakoni said.

    He sought that the court begin hearing on the plea at the earliest, as the state government has completed all formalities for acquisition and now only taking possession of the land remains.

    Godrej’s land was the only portion which was not in the state’s possession, and all the other land has already been acquired, Kumbhakoni said.

    On Monday, the company also filed an application seeking disclosures from the state government of all documents and records it had relied upon while deciding which plot of land was best suitable to be acquired for the project.

    Earlier, the state government and the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL) had claimed that Godrej & Boyce was creating unnecessary hurdles and impediments in the land acquisition process and was hence delaying the project.

    This allegation was refuted by the company, which claimed that the land acquisition proceedings were “illegal and bad in law.”

    This would be the country’s first bullet train and would run at a maximum speed of Rs 350 lm per hour, covering the stretch between the two cities in under three hours from the usual seven.

    MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Monday informed the Bombay High Court that the land acquisition process on the entire line of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project has been completed except the plot owned by Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co Ltd at suburban Vikhroli.

    The state government and the company are embroiled in a legal dispute since 2019 over the acquisition of the company-owned land in Vikhroli for the bullet train project.

    Of the total 508.17 km of rail track between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, about 21 km is to be underground.

    One of the entry points to the underground tunnel falls on the land at Vikhroli (owned by Godrej).

    The company had last month filed a petition challenging an order passed by the Maharashtra government on September 15 awarding compensation to it for land acquisition for the bullet train project.

    On Monday, a division bench of Justices R D Dhanuka and S G Dige said it would commence hearing on the petition on December 5.

    Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, appearing for the state government, said the matter was urgent as the project is being held up.

    “The entire land required for the project is from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. The entire acquisition of land has been completed except for this patch (owned by Godrej),” Kumbhakoni said.

    He sought that the court begin hearing on the plea at the earliest, as the state government has completed all formalities for acquisition and now only taking possession of the land remains.

    Godrej’s land was the only portion which was not in the state’s possession, and all the other land has already been acquired, Kumbhakoni said.

    On Monday, the company also filed an application seeking disclosures from the state government of all documents and records it had relied upon while deciding which plot of land was best suitable to be acquired for the project.

    Earlier, the state government and the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL) had claimed that Godrej & Boyce was creating unnecessary hurdles and impediments in the land acquisition process and was hence delaying the project.

    This allegation was refuted by the company, which claimed that the land acquisition proceedings were “illegal and bad in law.”

    This would be the country’s first bullet train and would run at a maximum speed of Rs 350 lm per hour, covering the stretch between the two cities in under three hours from the usual seven.

  • Bullet train project gets momentum after years of stalemate in Maharashtra: Railway minister

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: After years of stalemate, the works on India’s first high-speed bullet train project in Maharashtra side has got momentum with all required clearances obtained from the BJP-allied state government. Earlier, the project that started at an estimated budget of Rs 1, 08,000 crores in 2015, was allegedly delayed due to the previous government’s ‘stalling tactics’ on Maharashtra side.

    Union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, a day ago after the site inspection in Mumbai, said that all the tenders for civil construction work have been floated for Maharashtra side after obtaining all clearances from the state government.

    “The work has got momentum in Maharashtra side on this project. I would like to thank the new government of Maharashtra for having given the railways all clearances”, the railway minister told the media, hoping that the country will see the first set of bullet train running by 2026 between Surat and Bilimora in Gujarat.

    According to official sources, the railway needs around 433.82 hectares of land for developing tracks and other associated infrastructure for the 506.17km long Mumbai- Ahmadabad bullet train are required in the territory of Maharashtra. “Out of a total 433.83 hectares of land, 313 hectares of land have beenacquired for the project now. In the same way, out of 954.3 hectares of land, 942.9 hector of land in Gujarat side -which 98.90% of total required land, have already been acquired and works progress in advance in Gujarat side”, informed the railway minister in the Rajya Sabha recently in a written reply to amember.

    The minister further added that a lump sum amount of Rs 28,441.65 crore out of an initial sanctioned budget of Rs 1,08,000 crore has already been utilized on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed rail(MAHSR) project as on June 30 in 2022.

    In total, the MAHSR project requires around 1396 hectares of land between Mumbai via Dadra and Nagar haveli UT. Actually, the MAHSR project was launched with a deadline to completion by 2023 but its now delayed by five years due to delays in land acquisition in Maharashtra.

    NEW DELHI: After years of stalemate, the works on India’s first high-speed bullet train project in Maharashtra side has got momentum with all required clearances obtained from the BJP-allied state government. Earlier, the project that started at an estimated budget of Rs 1, 08,000 crores in 2015, was allegedly delayed due to the previous government’s ‘stalling tactics’ on Maharashtra side.

    Union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, a day ago after the site inspection in Mumbai, said that all the tenders for civil construction work have been floated for Maharashtra side after obtaining all clearances from the state government.

    “The work has got momentum in Maharashtra side on this project. I would like to thank the new government of Maharashtra for having given the railways all clearances”, the railway minister told the media, hoping that the country will see the first set of bullet train running by 2026 between Surat and Bilimora in Gujarat.

    According to official sources, the railway needs around 433.82 hectares of land for developing tracks and other associated infrastructure for the 506.17km long Mumbai- Ahmadabad bullet train are required in the territory of Maharashtra. “Out of a total 433.83 hectares of land, 313 hectares of land have been
    acquired for the project now. In the same way, out of 954.3 hectares of land, 942.9 hector of land in Gujarat side -which 98.90% of total required land, have already been acquired and works progress in advance in Gujarat side”, informed the railway minister in the Rajya Sabha recently in a written reply to a
    member.

    The minister further added that a lump sum amount of Rs 28,441.65 crore out of an initial sanctioned budget of Rs 1,08,000 crore has already been utilized on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed rail(MAHSR) project as on June 30 in 2022.

    In total, the MAHSR project requires around 1396 hectares of land between Mumbai via Dadra and Nagar haveli UT. Actually, the MAHSR project was launched with a deadline to completion by 2023 but its now delayed by five years due to delays in land acquisition in Maharashtra.

  • Slum dwellers hit by bullet train project move Gujarat HC, seek rehabilitation

    By PTI
    AHMEDABAD: As many as 318 people evicted from a slum colony here to make way for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project have moved the Gujarat High Court seeking a direction to authorities to facilitate their rehabilitation.

    The petition came up before a division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Biren Vaishnav on Monday.

    The court directed to serve advance copies of the plea to the Western Railway (WR), the National High Speed Rail Corporation, the implementing authority of the project, andAhmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).

    The HC has posted the matter for hearing on Thursday.

    In the plea, moved by Bandhkaam Mazdoor Sangathan, a body of labourers, the affected dwellers of the JP Ni Chali slum in Sabarmati area said they lived in the slum for more than 30 years, but had been evicted by the authorities without any provision for rehabilitation and rendered homeless.

    Despite a verbal assurance for rehabilitation from the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited, the railway administration issued a notice to them on February 22, 2021, for eviction within seven days, it said.

    The plea further said despite representations made before the AMC and the WR, the railway administration started demolishing their houses on March 15, leaving them without any shelter.

    They are in urgent need of rehabilitation, it added.

    The introduction of the country’s first bullet train, which is known as the Shinkansen in Japan, is expected to mark Indias shift to an era of high-speed trains capable of hitting speeds of up to 350 km per hour.

    Of the 508.17-km-long bullet train corridor, 155.76 km will be in Maharashtra, 348.04 km in Gujarat and 4.3 km in Dadra and Nagar Haveli.