Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar on Tuesday charged that Maharashtra would in no way benefit from the bullet train project, despite making a staggering investment of Rs 35,000 crore as its share on the project.
Dubbing the bullet train project as an “impractical project”, Pawar said that the huge amount being invested on the bullet train project would be well spent if the money were to be used for improving suburban train services in Mumbai and also for upgrading the facilities at railway stations across the country.
Pawar also charged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gone with the project “to help Japan come out of the economic recession it is facing”.
Addressing a news conference here, Pawar made no bones his displeasure over the manner in which the bullet train project had been thrust on Maharashtra, Pawar said, “We are not opposed to modernisation and import of new technology. But, we feel that the new technology being brought into the country should be practical one. I think a bullet train is required between Mumbai and Delhi or Delhi and Kolkata or Mumbai and Chennai. But, a bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad is impractical”
“While on one hand the Government ignores the safety issues like it happened in the case of Elphinstone Road stampede, on the other it chooses to make such a huge investment on the bullet train project...... Instead of investing such a huge sum on the bullet train project, the Government should have spent the money improving the suburban services in Mumbai and for upgrading the facilities at railway stations across the country,” the NCP chief said.
Elaborating on how the bullet train project would in no way benefit Maharashtra, Pawar said, “There are in all ten railway stations in the bullet train route between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Of the stations, three are in Maharashtra, while seven are in Gujarat. I do not mind if Gujarat benefits from the project... But, the travel time of bullet train in Maharashtra is just 35 minutes, while the train traverses one and 25 minutes in the Gujarat stretch of the route. However, both Maharashtra and Gujarat have to make an equal investment of Rs 35,000 crore each. ... I don’t think this project is beneficial for Maharashtra”.
To drive home the point that the Prime Minister was more interested in showcasing the bullet train project to the world than being concerned about its usefulness or otherwise, Pawar played out a video clip of Modi, in his earlier capacity as the chief minister of Gujarat, was seen saying that a bullet train was just to showcase the country’s strength and that he knew nobody would travel in the train.
Taking a dig at Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Pawar said, “I thought he would have more knowledge over Mumbai’s local train issues as he belongs to the city. lal Bahadur Shastri had resigned after a train accident. I expected the same action from the Railway minister but it did not happen”.
Coming down heavily on the Modi government for the economic slowdown in the country, Pawar said: “The Government has miserably failed in handling the economic issues in the country. The prices of essential commodities have spiralled in recent months. A large of number of industries have either been closed down or facing closure. There is huge unemployment across the country”.
The NCP chief said that the social media had turned against the Modi government. “Instead of accepting the reality sought to be projected by people in the social media, this Government is trying to gag the people who criticise it by sending them notices. In the process, the Government is trampling upon the freedom of expression enjoyed by the people under the Constitution,” Pawar said.
Singling out Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for criticism, Pawar charged that Fadnavis had taken the people for ride by claiming that the farm loan waiver accounted for a relief worth Rs 35,000 crore, while the fact remained the actual relief that the farmers could expect was in the range of Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 12,000 crore.
Pawar said that after a farmers’ convention being convened by him at Aurangabad on November 5, the NCP would launch an agitation across Maharashtra on price rise and farm loan waiver issues. He said that his party would also involve like-minded political parties in the proposed agitation.