简体中文
By APD writer Rishika Chauhan
NEW DELHI, September 15 (APD) -
Prime Minister Abe and Modi launched a project to build a 508-kilometer Mumbai to Ahmedabad bullet train on Thursday.
To build the train India would be importing Japanese 'Shinkansen' bullet-train technology, making India the second country to import and use the technology.
The project will be financed by Japan and would also bring in business for Japanese firms like Hitachi Limited and East Japan Railway Company. India will have to pay back the project loan in the next 50 years.
According to the Japanese team’s estimations, the first train would be ready by 2023, however the Indian Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said Prime Minister Modi wants the train to start on 15 August 2022, when India completes 75 years of its Independence.
The high-speed train, will have the capacity to accommodate 750 people, and is expected to reduce travel time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad from seven to three hours.
The Modi government has said that the project will generate employment for nearly 20,000 people, though the opposition remains sceptical.
Meanwhile, tribal communities and farmers affiliated to 24 organizations across the provinces of Maharashtra and Gujarat have come together to oppose the proposed project.
The projects is expected to pass through tribal belts in the provinces of Maharashtra and Gujarat which has tribal areas in Thane, Dahanu, Palghar, Navsari, Valsad and Union Territory of Dadra-Nagar Haveli.
Jayesh Patel, an activist working with Ahmedabad-based Khedu Samaj Gujarat, said, “Vast tracts of land on either side of the freight corridor are being set aside for industrial use and this will result in farmers losing their livelihood. We question the very need for an industrial corridor and transport projects along this route passing through scheduled areas.”
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
