Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train: The NHSRCL (National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited) has decided to seek help from the RPF (Railway Protection Force) in order to protect its employees as they go about surveying the land meant for India’s first bullet train project. According to an HT report, this comes amid protests by the local population, disruptions supported by political leaders, and not much support from the state administration. The process of land acquisition for the bullet train project was started last year. However, so far, less than 1 hectare of the 1,400 hectares land needed for the project has been acquired, the report said.
In Palghar, a town in Maharashtra, which is one of the epicentres of the protest against the bullet train project, a clinic opened by NHSRCL, which is executing the project, was shut down by the locals. The teams conducting the survey for the project were threatened several times and were also beaten up once. While some farmers have decided to take legal action, the corporation has sought help from the law enforcement. Arun Kumar, RPF Director-General said that a DIG-level officer would be sent to Palghar to assess the situation. Another RFP official said that the DIG would set up base at Palghar, undertake a study and will decide the strength of the force, which is to be deployed. However, the use of RPF is likely to be controversial, the report stated.
The bullet train corridor, which would be 508.17 km-long in total, will have 155.76 km in Maharashtra, 348.04 km in Gujarat and 4.3 km in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In Palghar, the land acquisition for the project will be undertaken across 73 villages, with around 109.06 km of the corridor passing through the area. The corporation, in a bid to accelerate the land acquisition process, is also providing health as well as drinking water facility to villagers. The NHSRCL is hoping that outreach measures will help build bridges with people and will allow speedier land acquisition for the bullet train project.
