Centre rejects plea to include Nashik in prjoect

Mumbai: In a blow to the Maharashtra government, the Centre has outrightly rejected Mahar-ashtra’s plea to extend the upcoming Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train corridor via Nashik, according to recent RTI replies received by a Mu-mbai activist Jeetendra Ghadge on Saturday.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had written separately to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and railway minister Suresh Prabhu on January 13, 2016 urging to include Nashik in the bullet train project, to be implemented in India. However, The alignment now recommended by the consultants includes only three cities in Maharashtra, which are Mumbai, Thane and Boisar in Palghar district.  “I think that the state will truly benefit from the HSR Project if the network is extended to other important cities in the state,” said Mr Fadnavis’ letter.

The CM had also pointed out that during his official visit to Japan earlier, he had explored the possibility of extending the HSR Project to include Nashik, which is already a part of the ambitious Mumbai-Howrah Diagonal on the proposed HSR Diamond Quadrilateral.

While Mr Modi and Mr Prabhu did not respond to the plea, only the minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha replied to the letter, rejecting the request to include Nashik on the grounds of ‘feasibility’.  However, the MoS for railways assured that Nashik would be considered in the proposed feasibility study of the Mumbai-Nagpur bullet train project being planned.