Amid farmers' opposition Modi's bullet train faces Godrej's resistance

Mumbai: After receiving Maharashtra government's nod for provision of land at Bandra-Kurla Complex for Narendra Modi's ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, the project seems to have run into another trouble.

The project now requires acquisition of another piece of land in Vikhroli, Mumbai, which belongs to the Godrej Group.

Of the total stretch of 508 km of the bullet train 21 km will be in Mumbai, the 21 km stretch will run underground. The piece of land that belongs to Godrej is marked as the entrance of the underground tunnel. The government is planning to use this land for ventilation ducts.

Under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, the authorities will have to change the plan of track alignment or forcibly acquire the piece of land on Godrej's denial of acquisition.

Godrej has approached the Bombay High Court against the proposed acquisition of land, the property which is located at a prime location in Mumbai is estimated to be of more than Rs 5 billion, according to the report. Godrej has filed a petition in court seeking a change in the track alignment of the project so that its 8.6 acres of land gets out of the proposed project map.

The bullet train project will start to run underground from BKC and travel 21 km in a tunnel passing through the sea and it will emerge overground at Thane. The project has faced opposition from farmers and villagers of Maharashtra, and this Godrej land hurdle is the latest hurdle in the bullet train project.

The project is expected to be completed by August 2022, at a whopping cost of USD 17 billion. Indian Railways is trying to acquire around 1,400 hectares of land in Maharashtra for the Japan backed bullet train project at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore.

(With Inputs from Agencies)