AHMEDABAD: As many as 1,000 farmers of Gujrat affected by the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet Train Project will approach the Supreme Court with a plea to stay the project. The farmers also submitted affidavits in the Gujarat High Court opposing the project.
A division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi is hearing five petitions challenging the land acquisition process for the high speed rail project.
We will mention the matter before the apex court on Wednesday for an urgent hearing,” the farmers’ lawyer Anand Yagnik told reporters. The farmers have raised their objections regarding the project, which is being implemented with financial support from Japan.
In its affidavit against the petitions, the Gujarat government has stated that “much larger proportion of landowners whose lands are proposed to be acquired (for the Bullet Train project), have offered their lands by consent.”
Around 1,400 hectare land needs to be acquired for the project, of which 1,120 hectare is privately owned. It will affect about 6,000 land owners. The project was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart to become operational in 2023.
