MUMBAI: Even while the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is said to be contemplating scrapping the Bullet Train project, at least 11 project affected families from a village near Bhiwandi have received eviction notices from the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), the nodal agency for construction of the Bullet Train.
“Notices have been sent to 11 families in our village. They have been asked to vacate their houses within two days,” said Vinod Patil-Bharodikar, an activist opposing the land acquisition for the project from Bharodi village of Bhiwandi taluka of Thane district.
Of around 25-30 houses in the village, 11 are affected by the Bullet Train project. Two months back, owners of the houses had received around 80 per cent of the compensation that they were eligible for.
The disbursement of the compensation was on condition that they will vacate the property within two months of receiving the compensation. However, they were told by the officials that the project will take at least 8-10 months to pick up and they would be able to stay in their respective houses till then. The two-month term ended on Friday when they all received notices to vacate houses within two days.
“How is it possible to find new houses within two days,” Bharodikar asked saying that they have requested the NHSRCL to extend the date for eviction.
NHSRCL, which is owned jointly by the Union government and the Maharashtra and Gujarat governments, is the nodal agency for the construction of the Rs 1.1-lakh crore 508-km of high-speed transport system that aims to reduce travel time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad to less than two hours, from the current eight hours. Of the total 508km, 156km is in Maharashtra and 348km is in Gujarat. In Maharashtra, NHSRCL has acquired land parcels at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), Thane and Bhiwandi and it requires land at BKC, Vikhroli, Thane and Palghar.
The project has been facing stiff opposition from famers in Thane and Palghar districts over land acquisition. However, of around 1,400 hectares of land required for the project, only around 353 hectares is yet to be acquired in Maharashtra.
Though the state government has said that it will review the project, which has been described as the “white elephant” by some of the ministers in the current government, it has not yet stopped the work on the project. Hence, as per the procedure the work is being carried out, NHSRCL officials have said.