Around 54,000 mangroves spread over 13.36 hectares will be affected by the proposed Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, Transport Minister Diwakar Raote said on Monday in a written reply in the Legislative Council.
Replying to a question raised by Maneesha Kayande (Shiv Sena), Mr. Raote said, “As the pillars of the project will be high, the cutting of mangroves will be less. It will not affect the environment much.”
The Minister said the State government has proposed to plant five mangroves for each one that will be cut for the multi-billion dollar project. “As per my information, farmers are keen on handing over their land for appropriate remuneration,” Mr. Raote said.
The project, expected to cost over ₹1 lakh crore, is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
In reply to another question raised by Sharad Ranpise (Congress), Mr. Raote said, “The proposed land acquisition for the bullet train project is 1,379 hectares of which 724.13 hectares are private land in Gujarat while 270.65 hectares are in Maharashtra. As much as 188 hectares of private land in Palghar district are going to be acquired of which 2.95 hectares have been purchased as per the private negotiation policy of the State. As many as 3,498 people from Palghar will be affected due to the bullet train project,” he said.
He said in Thane district, 84.81 hectares belonging to 6,589 farmers have been acquired, of which 2.95 hectares have been purchased as per the private negotiation policy. Private negotiation is a policy introduced by the State government where it buys out land directly from the owner instead of following the land acquisition procedure, which normally takes more time.