New Delhi/Mumbai/Ahmedabad, June 17: Ponds, ambulances, solar street lights and doctors are some of the demands villagers in Maharashtra’s Palghar district want met before they give their nod to the government’s ambitious bullet train project, say officials.
Hoping to overcome the villagers’ resistance, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHRCL), the nodal body to implement the project, has tweaked its strategy to ensure that the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train is on track for a 2022 launch and is agreeing to many of the conditions.
Failing to make much headway through mass contact programmes in the 23 villages where it faced extreme resistance, the NHRCL, in a major change in stand, is approaching individual landowners for their demands – in addition to the compensation they are due.
“We have changed our stance. Earlier, we would gather villagers at village chowks to convince them of the good that the project would do. That did not work, so we have decided that we will now target landowners only and ask village heads to give in writing what they want in addition to the compensation for their land,” said NHRCL spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar.
About 110 km of the 508 km train corridor passes through Palghar. The project requires an estimated 300 hectares across 73 villages, affecting about 3,000 people, in the stretch.
Land acquisition for the Japan-backed USD 17 billion bullet train — that will cut down the distance from Mumbai to Ahmedabad to less than three hours from the usual seven — is being bitterly opposed by tribals and fruit growers in Palghar district. Slowly, however, the NHRCL crew seems to be turning the tide in its favour by targeting specific demands of villagers, most of which are related not to their personal needs but to basic necessities such as street lights and ambulances for the entire community.
Mankundsar village in the district, for instance, had a leaking pond. Their demand? A boundary wall for the five hectare pond. Similarly, Khurd and Vikramgar villages demanded deployment of regular doctors. Bete village asked for an ambulance and solar street lights while another asked for a bullet train station. Yet another, Kelwa, asked for regular delivery of medicines. All these demands have been made on the letterhead of the village sarpanches on behalf of the landowners in the villages, a move to ensure probity from both sides. “We will comply to their demands if they give it to us in writing. The project is going to bring employment and development to the region and we are happy to help them,” said Kumar.
