Mumbai, November 22: Amid the ongoing political turmoil in Maharashtra over government formation, the bullet train project between┬аMumbai-Ahmedabad is likely to be affected. Reports state that┬аPrime Minister┬а Narendra Modi's highly ambitious bullet train project may hit a roadblock if the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena combine comes to power in the state. In September 2017,┬аPrime Minister and┬аShinzo Abe had jointly laid the foundation stone for the Bullet train project in Ahmedabad. The┬а508-km Ahmedabad-Mumbai high speed train project is slated to be completed by 2023.
On Friday,┬аCongress leader Manikrao Thakre stated that it is almost final that the next Maharashtra Chief Minister will be from Shiv Sena. He said NCP has never demanded the position of Chief Minister. According to a report by NDTV, the┬аShiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance, which is hoping to form a government┬аin the state, is mulling to scrap the bullet train project.┬аUddhav, Aaditya Thackeray Meet Sharad Pawar at Midnight as Shiv Sena, NCP, Congress Move Closer to Seal Alliance in Maharashtra.
According to a report by IANS, a┬аsenior NCP source was quoted saying that "during the first meeting of the three parties in Mumbai last week, discussions were held on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet train project. Giving details about the meeting, the source informed the┬аleaders that according to Central government, the Maharashtra government would be bearing Rs 5,000 crore of the total Rs 1.08 lakh crore cost.┬аMaharashtra Government Formation: Sanjay Raut Reiterates Shiv Sena CM Will Be For 5 Years, Says 'Won't Side With BJP Even If Offered Lord Indra's Throne'.
The NCP source was quoted in an IANS report saying that during the meeting, they came to a conclusion that once the NCP forms the government in the state then we will inform the Central government that the state government will not bear the cost of the high speed train project and will spend the same money on some other pro-people schemes.
According to the deal of the India's first bullet train project, the┬аNHSRCL, which is responsible for undertaking the construction, has, till date, acquired over 48 per cent of the land for the project and also floated tenders for several works.
