THREE YEARS after the foundation stone for the Rs 1.08-lakh crore Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project was laid, almost 95 per cent of the land required for building an elevated corridor has been acquired in Gujarat, while it stands at a little over 23 per cent in neighbouring Maharashtra, officials of the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) said.
A total of 1,396 hectares is needed for the 508-kilometre-long project, of which 956 hectares are in Gujarat, eight hectares in Dadra and Nagar Haveli (D&NH) and 432 hectares in Maharashtra.
As on February 7, a total of 1,013 hectares (or 72.57 per cent) have been acquired of which 904 hectares are in Gujarat, 7.65 hectares in D&NH and 101 hectares in Maharashtra.
Of the eight districts in Gujarat that fall on the bullet train route, land acquisition in the districts of Kheda and Valsad is almost complete with over 99 per cent of the land being acquired. In these two districts, 100 per cent of the private plots have been acquired say NHSRCL. The districts of Navsari (81 per cent) and Vadodara (88 per cent) currently have the least acquisition in Gujarat. Only 84 per cent and 77 per cent of the private plots have so far been acquired in Navsari and Vadodara, respectively, officials said.
In comparison, land acquisition is yet to begin in suburban Mumbai, where 4.82 hectares are needed. The acquisition in Palghar and Thane stands at a little over 13 per cent and 44 per cent, respectively.
“Some districts have some apprehensions or confusions about the compensation amount or the land acquisition process in general. Our community representatives and NHSRCL officials are making all efforts in clearing these doubts or confusions,” the company has stated in response to a questionnaire.
The company, so far, has disbursed Rs 5,300 crore as compensation to private land holders, of which Rs 4,400 crore has been given to farmers in Gujarat and D&NH, while Rs 900 crore has been disbursed in Maharashtra.
“Till date, farmers have been compensated for acquisition of 6,204 private plots of the total of 8,280 private plots, that is 75 per cent,” stated NHSRCL. About 2,076 private plots are yet to be acquired, of which 1,602 are in Maharashtra and the remaining 474 in Gujarat.
Referring to the deadline for land acquisition for the project, where the foundation stone was laid on September 14, 2017, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in Ahmedabad, NHSRCL stated, “We are hoping to complete the process in near future, but it is difficult to give a set deadline to this process as it involves a number of complicated steps, involving various stakeholders.”
The earlier deadline set by the Government of India for completion of land acquisition for the bullet train project was December 2018. The project is expected to be commissioned by 2023.
