Cong will ‘rethink’ Nanar, bullet train if voted back

Mumbai: The Congress state chief Ashok Chavan on Friday said that his party would “rethink” the bullet train and Nanar refinery projects if it is voted back to power in the coming elections. Mr Chavan said that both projects were against the interests of the people of the state. The former chief minister and state Congress chief’s statement  assumes importance because of contentious nature of the Nanar project and the party’s attempt to usurp the space of the opposition by hardening its stand on both contentious projects.

Mr Chavan said, “We are of the opinion that the Nanar project is being opposed by locals. So, you can’t bulldoze them. We will rethink the project if we are voted back to power.” He said that he, along with a team of Congress leaders, had already visited the proposed site and witnessed the strong opposition of the locals to the project.

On the bullet train, Mr Chavan said, “You are spending Rs1 lakh crore for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train which is economically non-viable and completely unnecessary. Instead, this huge amount should be spent on strengthening the infrastructure of Mumbai suburban locals. People from Palghar and Dahanu travel to Mumbai every day. They should get the best infrastructure instead of this white elephant called the bullet train.” He said the Congress would see to it that such projects were implemented.

Double speak?

The bullet train project was initially proposed during the Congress-led UPA-2 government. It was aimed at high-speed rail connectivity between Mumbai and Delhi but was never implemented for various reasons. The initial surveys were made for 12 similar routes. But the party says the initial idea was that of a bullet train between Mumbai and Delhi and not Mumbai and Ahmedabad.  Also, it was the Congress government that went ahead with land acquisition for the Jaitapur nuclear power project, despite opposition.