We've to rethink bullet train project, it's white elephant: CM Uddhav Thackeray

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project a “White Elephant”.

He has indicated that his government would rethink about the project.

“I feel we need to sit and discuss it...Who will benefit from bullet train?... How many businesses and industries are going to be benefited?... Please explain....we will go before the public and decide what to do,” he said in an interview to Marathi daily Saamana and Hindi tabloid Dophar ka Saamana – both mouthpieces of his party, Shiv Sena. “We have to prioritise the developmental work of the state...we have to look at the economic situation and carry out development.”

The officials of the Ministry of Railways in New Delhi said that they had not received any communication from the State Government about halting the bullet train project. They also said that the Ministry of Railways was in touch with the Maharashtra Government and the process of acquiring land was expected to be over soon.

India's first high-speed rail project was to be built with Shinkansen Bullet Train technology of Japan, with 81% of the estimated expenditure to be funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as a soft loan.

“If someone gives a loan without interest or loan with minimal interest, that does not mean we take it...and snatch land from farmers....after all this is a white elephant and no need to have it,” Uddhav, who leads the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition in Maharashtra, said in an interview with Saamana Executive Editor and the Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut.

When pointed out that bullet train was "dream project" of Prime Minister, he said: "It may be dream project... but once you wake up, the reality is before you...reality is not dream."

The JICA inked an agreement with the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India on September 18, 2018, pledging a soft loan of 89,547 million Japanese Yen (approx. Rs 5,500 Crore) for the project.

When Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had met in Bangkok on the sideline of the East Asia Summit on November 4 last year, the two sides discussed the High Speed Rail-Link project. Abe had requested Modi for his personal intervention to speed up its implementation. The two Prime Ministers were expected to discussed it again during the annual summit in Guwahati in December. But the summit was indefinitely postponed, due to widespread protest in the north-eastern region against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

The officials of the Ministry of Railways in New Delhi said that works to build the high-speed rail corridor could start from Gujarat, where acquisition of land had not meet any resistance.

The National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) is executing the project.

The 508.17 km bullet train route will cover a distance of 155.64 km in Maharashtra, 2 km in Dadra & Nagar Haveli and 350.53 km in Gujarat. The 12 stations on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project are Bandra-Kurla Complex, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Billimora, Surat, Bharuch, Baroda, Anand/Nandiya, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati. The train will pass through Palghar and Thane districts of Maharashtra before reaching Mumbai.

Earlier Railway Board Chairman V K Yasav said the project required 1,380 hectare of land. 1,005 hectare was private land of which we have acquired 471 hectares. 149 hectare was state government land of which we have got 119 hectare. The remaining is 128 hectare which is railway land which has been given to the high-speed corporation," he said.

Yadav also said that five bids for civil engineering work which includes track work and tunnels will be opened in March and finalised within six to eight months thence.