54,000 Mangroves trees to be chopped of for Mumbai- Ahmedabad Metro

NPnews24 Online, Mumbai: Around 54,000 mangroves spread over 13.36 hectares will be affected because of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, state transport minister Diwakar Raote said on Monday in a written reply in the legislative council.

“As the pillar of project will be high, the cutting of mangroves will be less. It will not affect the environment much.” Said Mr. Raote replying to the question raised by Maneesh Kayande (Shiv Sena).

The Minister said the state government has proposed to plant five mangroves for each one that will be cut for the multi-billion dollar project. “As per my information, farmers are keen on handing over their land for appropriate remuneration,” Said Mr. Roate.

In reply to another question raised by sharad Ranpise (Congress), Mr. Roate said “The proposed land acquisition for bullet train project is 1,379 hectares of which 724.13 hectares are private land in Gujarat while 270.65bhectares are in Maharashtar. As much as 188 hectares of private land in Palghar district are going to be acquired of which 2.95 hectares have been purchased are pe the private negotiation policy of the state. As many as 3,498 people from Palghar will be affected due to bullet train project.”

He also said that the 84.81 hectares land belonging to 6,589 farmers in Thane district have been acquired, of which 2.95 hectares have been purchased as per the private negotiation policy.

Private negotiation is a policy introduced by the state government where it buys out land directly from the owner instead of following the land acquisition procedure, which normally takes more time.

The project is expected to cost over ₹ 1 lakh crore and is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).