E-Paper
Pune-Nashik semi high-speed railway: Railway ministry simply delaying project, raising invalid doubts: Pawar
The high-speed project, if completed, will provide seamless connectivity to the industrial zones of Pune and Nashik such as Hadapsar, Wagholi, Alandi, Chakan, Khed, Manchar, Narayangaon, Sinnar and Satpur
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has now become aggressive over the Pune-Nashik semi high-speed railway, stating the central government is simply delaying it, despite all approvals.
Maharashtra Opposition leader Ajit Pawar said, “The Pune-Nashik high-speed railway project is important and received 200 permissions, technical clearance. When I was the finance minister, I had approved all funds. The only permissions remained were that from the railway ministry and cabinet minister, however, the central government is simply delaying the project.
“Chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis need to meet with the railway minister and seek approval,” added Pawar.
Earlier when Fadnavis met railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav during his Delhi visit in October, questions were raised about the feasibility of the high-speed ‘at-grade’ track between Pune and Nashik.
The high-speed project, if completed, will provide seamless connectivity to the industrial zones of Pune and Nashik such as Hadapsar, Wagholi, Alandi, Chakan, Khed, Manchar, Narayangaon, Sinnar and Satpur.
Shirur MP Amol Kolhe who is representing these areas said, “The project has been approved at all levels except the railway ministry. For the last six months, the ministry is just sitting on it and raising various doubts that are invalid.”
“Some of the objections being raised is that of animals coming in on the railway track, but this is invalid, as fencing has been proposed in the detailed project report. On the contrary, we recently inaugurated the Samruddi Mahamarg, which did not have fencing. There are many semi heigh-speed railway projects in the world that are on the ground. Another suggestion was to elevate the route. The project has been in the making for 20 years, and now if they want to elevate it, it will take years to get requisite permissions, and the cost will increase by three-four folds,” added Kolhe.
Kolhe said that her recently raised the question about this project in the parliament. The central government needs to take a positive approach towards this project and approve it immediately.
“We do not want to bring politics in development projects. Not just NCP, but many other parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs have given letters to approve the project, but it is being delayed,” added Pawar.
