In what came as a relief to the Godrej group, the National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCl) informed the Bombay High Court on Tuesday that in lieu of a prime property chosen earlier, it has prima facie found an alternate land proposed by the industry group suitable for acquisition for the bullet train project.
A month after M/s Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing Company ltd moved the High Court challenging the proposed acquisition of its prime property at Vikhroli in north-east Mumbai for the Government’s ambitious Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project, the NHSRCl told the court that it had found the alternate plot of land, also at Vikrholi, suitable for the project.
In an affidavit filed before a HC division bench of Justices N H Patil and G S Kulkarni, the NHSRCl stated that it had found the alternate site proposed by the Godrej group prima facie suitable for the project.
The Godrej group had suggested alternate plot of land in lieu of the original plot which was subsequently found embroiled in a title dispute between it and the Maharashtra Government.
At Tuesday’s hearing, NHSRCl stated in its affidavit: “We will examine the proposal in detail and have also sent a modified sketch for the petitioner’s (Godrej) consideration”
The HC asked the State Government’s department concerned to also verify the second proposal. “It should not happen that even this land is embroiled in some legal dispute,” Justice Patil said.
The HC bench noted that apart from such technical aspects pertaining to land availability, the NHSRCl would also have to consider several other aspects before taking the project forward. “There are a lot of things to consider apart from such technical aspects…environmental rules and regulations…presence of mangroves. You (NHSRCl) will have to look into all of this before you start work for the project,” Justice Patil said.
NHSRCl counsel Anil Singh assured the court today that it would discuss and evolve an amicable solution with Godrej. The HC bench schedule the next hearing of the case for September 3.
The Godrej group, in its petition, had sought a direction to NHSRCl to change the project’s alignment so that it could get nearly 8.6 acres of land belonging to its infrastructure arm Godrej Construction out of the plan.
Of the total 508.17 km of rail track between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, nearly 21 km is planned to be underground, as per the current alignment of the bullet train project.