Mumbai – Ahmedabad Bullet Train Project Faces Protest From Nearly 1,000 Farmers

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The Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious bullet train project has run into rough weather. According to various media reports, as many as 1,000 farmers affected by the proposed Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train submitted affidavits in the Gujarat High Court , voicing their opposition to the project.

The much talked about project was inked between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 14, 2017 . The two leaders participated in the ground breaking ceremony for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project that is set to be completed in 2022. Slated to cost Rs 1,10,000 crore, trains on this network will run at peak speeds of 350 k/hr.

A division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi is hearing five petitions challenging the land acquisition process for the high speed rail project.

Besides these petitioners, 1,000 farmers submitted separate affidavits in the high court to make a point that many more cultivators are affected by the Centre’s ambitious Rs. 1.10 lakh crore project and are opposed to it.

In the affidavit, the affected farmers from various districts of Gujarat, from where the bullet train route will pass, stated that they do not want acquisition of their land for the project.

They also said that the existing land acquisition proceedings are contrary to guidelines of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) that has provided soft loan to the Indian government for the project.