New Delhi: The pending land acquisition process in Maharashtra will be one of the top priorities of the newly formed government in the state. The deadline for the ‘Bullet Train project’ was pushed back at least three years from 2023 to the end of 2026 due to the attitude of the Uddhav Thackeray government since 2019.
The focus is on acquiring about 150 hectares of pending land in Maharashtra.
A senior government official closely associated with the project told the media, “the Prime Minister had last instructed that the high-speed corridor be operationalized in Gujarat first, without waiting for Maharashtra. Now, we hope work will get fast-tracked on the entire stretch.”
The new government will also be working closely with the Centre to begin an activity on the already acquired land in the state – work has started on the entire 352 km stretch located in Gujarat as well as Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
The Prime Minister in a PRAGATI review meeting in November 2020 had asked the Uddhav Thackeray government to acquire and hand over all the land required for the project by April 30, 2021. But that was to no avail.
(Vinayak)
