Even as the recent land controversy over the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train is yet to die down, a new row has emerged. The Maharashtra government has refused to give funds to the train project, as the Centre announced the project. In the coming state budget, the bullet train has no allocation of funds from the state.
“The bullet train project was announced by the Centre and it will make financial provision for it,” finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said, hinting that the state budget is not keen on giving any funds to the ambitious project. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train is the pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Last week, the bullet train project had run into controversy after the project authority claimed the BKC land that is also kept reserved for International Financial Services Centre (IFSC).
But chief minister Devendra Fadnavis defused the situation by asking that both the projects be accommodated at the same place.
The confusion started after railway board chairman A.K. Mittal had said that the ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor bullet train would come up in the BKC. He said that even though the state government had decided to build the finance centre at BKC, the station for the bullet train could still be built there.
On the last day of the ‘Make In India’ Week, Mr Fadnavis declared that the IFSC would be built in BKC and soon an agency would be appointed to design and execute the plan.
When asked how the state was planning to accommodate both in the same place, the chief minister had said,
“The IFSC will come right here and also the bullet train. The bullet train will be underground and we have been holding talks with the officials. There is no need for surface land for the bullet train. We will sit with authorities and discuss the issue. I will not give you a chance (media) to create a controversy out of this.”
