Bullet Train Project delays, Centre blames Maharashtra

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project was to be completed by the end of 2023. However, the government has no revised deadline for the completion of the project. The government of Maharashtra is blamed for the inordinate delay.

The Minister of Railways, Ashwani Vaishnaw, told the Parliament, "The project has suffered delay due to adverse impact of Covid-19 pandemic and due to poor progress in acquisition and handing over of land in the State of Maharashtra. The State Government of Maharashtra is being regularly followed up at all levels to expedite the acquisition of balance land. The revised timeline for completion of the project can be fixed after the acquisition of complete land in the State of Maharashtra."

According to the reports of News18, "as per the latest status, only 25% of the 432 hectares of land required in Maharashtra for the project has been acquired so far while Gujarat and Daman and Diu have acquired over 96% of the land for the project in their jurisdiction. Overall, 75% of land for the project stands acquired." 

Vaishnaw added, "the Budget Allocation for the project in the current year 2021-22 is Rs 14,000 Cr and expenditure incurred in the current year till date is about Rs 2,090 Cr. The cumulative expenditure on this project till date is 14,153 Cr."

Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that this project was not a priority one for his government and the Shiv Sena has termed it a vanity project. He said that there is already good rail connectivity between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.