Protests erupt over land acquisition for bullet train

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, December 4

Residents of villages in Palghar, Dahanu and Virar on the outskirts of Mumbai who stand to lose their land to the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project have come out in protests in many places after the local administration barred the transfer of land in the earmarked areas, according to officials here.

“In many places, officials from the revenue department were chased away by villagers,” a state government official said. However with the Maharashtra Government paying as much as five times the ready reckoner rate for infrastructure projects, officials expect to convince landowners to part with their properties.

The Maharashtra government has set a deadline of March 31 for land acquisition for the Bullet Train to be completed. According to sources 1100 hectares of land will be acquired in three districts of Maharashtra and 12 in Gujarat for the project.

The High Speed Rail Corridor, as the project is called, will be elevated in most places and cost Rs 1.10 lakh crore.

The Maharashtra government recently cleared the proposal to construct the underground Bullet Train Terminus at the Bandra Kurla Complex in suburban Mumbai.

Work on construction of the Bullet Train network is expected to begin by end-2018 and be completed by 2023.