Maharashtra Infrastructure War Room Meeting: CM Shinde Directs Officials To Expedite Land Acquisition For Pending Metro Lines, Bullet Train

At the first meeting of the infrastructure war room set up by his government to expedite key projects in the state, Chief minister Eknath Shinde directed officials to sort out all issues related to land for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project by September 30.

Shinde, along with deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, chaired the meeting to review the progress of various infrastructure projects in the state.

In Maharashtra, the total land required for the project is 1,072 acres, of which progress has been achieved for 80%.

Last week, Union minister of environment, forest and climate change gave approval for diversion of 237 acres of forest land. MMRDA has assured BKC land will be handed over by December.

On July 22, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has invited bids for the design and construction of an underground station at Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) and for tunnels for the bullet train project. This were the first set of bids invited after the new Shiv Sena- BJP alliance government led by Shinde came to power in Maharashtra. The new government has given the green light to the project, which remained dormant during the erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA (Maharashtra Vikas Angadi) dispensation.

NHSRCL was forced to cancel the tenders floated in 2019 for the construction of an underground terminus at the BKC after the state government failed to hand over the land.

After floating the tenders, the NHSRCL gave almost 11 extensions while waiting for the land at the BKC to be handed over to it.

Review Of Mumbai Metro Projects

Shinde and Fadnavis also reviewed the implementation status of Mumbai Metro Lines 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 11 as well as Metro Line 2A (Dahisar East-DN Nagar), Metro Line-7 (Andheri East-Dahisar East).

The CM ordered to expedite the land acquisition to pave way for the Wadala-Kasarvadavali Metro route-4 and Thane-Kalyan via Bhiwandi Metro route-5

For Metro line 4, 4A and 10, close to 42.25 hectares of land will be needed. The Thane district collector has been asked to acquire land for Metro 5 car depot.

The MMRDA has also submitted a land acquisition proposal to the Thane district collector for Metro 9 (Dahisar east-Mira Bhayander).