NHSRCL says stir won’t delay bullet train project

The ambitious project that has witnessed several instances of protests over giving away land, Palghar has been its epicenter.

“As many as 3,000 people are going to be affected due to the construction of bullet train in Palghar. As of now, we have sent them a draft proposal or Namuna 1, indicates the estimated land parcel that may be required for the project. This estimation was done on the basis of a survey carried out using lidar, a detection system that works on the principle of radar. Following which, we have started a joint measurement survey to figure out the actual amount of land to be acquired for the project, number of families that will be affected and the different land ownership of project affected people,” Dhananjay Kumar, spokesperson, NHSRCL said.

So far, 23 villages of the 50 villages in Palghar have resisted against the coming of the bullet train on their land.
Among the issues villagers have raised against the project include insufficient compensation, erroneous measurement of land parcels and failure to communicate with them on the need of the project.

“For the residents, who stay on the forest land, we have agreed to offer 50 per cent of its value. If a villager farms on an agricultural land but does not own it, we will offer them a compensation of Rs 5 lakh. Others will receive compensation as per Maharashtra Land Acquisition Act, 2013 of land,” Kumar added.

In Palghar, 57.24 hectares of land comes under forest area while 221.38 hectares is privately owned and 23.91 hectares is owned by the government.

NHSRCL officials believe that villages are increasingly turning positive towards the requirement of the project.
“We are flexible towards their demands. For example, we are keen to change the location of Boisar station from Man village in Palghar to Betegaon as demanded by villagers. A meeting on the environmental impact of the project on Palghar is scheduled on Saturday with the District Collector and concerned officials. Post the meeting we will discuss its findings with the locals and are also keen on hearing their suggestions on the same ,” Kumar added.

Last month, the Maharashtra forest department had sought additional details regarding the proposal submitted by NHSRCL, seeking to divert 77.45 hectares of forest land in the state for the project. Kumar said this would also be discussed in the Saturday meeting.

“Our protest is not dependent on the press conference that was held Friday by the officials. We are wary of the consequences of the project on our land. We will continue to oppose the project,” Brian Lobo, representing the farmers in Palghar said. The protest is expected to be attended by former union environment minister Jairam Ramesh from Congress and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray

The bullet train project, costing Rs 1.1 lakh crore, is to be built with a loan of Rs 88,000 crore from Japan. The project involves both Maharashtra and Gujarat governments and will operate between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Out of the total 508 km railway line, 108 km will pass through the villages in Maharashtra.

For the execution of the bullet train project, National High-Speed Rail Corporation has to acquire more than 850 hectares of land in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, all at the cost of local farmers’ livelihood, say farmers. Around 192 villages in Gujarat and nearly 120 villages in Maharashtra will be affected by the project.