Saket Gokhale Slams PM Modi Over Prolonged Delay Of Bullet Train Project (image-facebook/ Saket Gokhale, pixabay)
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav along with other senior officials had taken a three-day trip to Japan in September to resolve a number of problems that have resulted in a deadlock between India and Japan over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project- the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project.
On Monday, Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale heavily came down on the Prime minister for missing the deadline to implement the project for the past 5 years.
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“After missing the deadline by 5 years, Modi’s promised “bullet train” is nowhere close to completion”, he wrote.
He in his post further alleged that when there are several issues that need to be resolved with Japan, the railway minister “has only just woken up”.
“And already, the project has spent ₹60,372 crore (over 60%) out of the budget of ₹1,00,000 crore. People of India have wasted crores for a harebrained idea that Modi proposed for his own PR,” he further added.
Calling the project, yet another PR stunt of Modi, he questioned whether the BJP would compensate the government of India for all the crores they have lost on the project.
After missing the deadline by 5 years, Modi’s promised “bullet train” is nowhere close to completion.
Turns out that there are multiple issues with Japan which still need to be resolved. And rail minister @AshwiniVaishnaw has only just woken up.
And already, the project has… pic.twitter.com/bNvDjVOWB9
— Saket Gokhale MP (@SaketGokhale) October 1, 2024
As per the Hindu report, sources say that among the problems they discussed were Japan’s insistence on Japanese vendors for the trains and signaling systems, as well as costing and timing estimates for the completion of the project.
Member (Infrastructure) Railway Board, Anil Kumar Khandelwal, and Vivek Kumar Gupta, Managing Director of the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL) had accompanied the railway minister as the pressure to complete the construction milestones in the project grows ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tokyo for the annual summit later this year.
Japan which is providing all the technical support and technology for running the bullet trains is keen that the train sets and the signaling system be purchased from Japanese suppliers only,” sources said to Hindu.
And as per the Japan International Cooperation Agency loan conditions, only manufacturers such as Kawasaki and Hitachi can participate in the bid.
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The increase in the project’s cost has become yet another issue. Against the total outlooked budget of Rs 1.08 lakh crore, the expenditure up to Rs 60,372 crore had already occurred between the fiscal year 2020-21 to fiscal year 2023-24, as per NHSRCL.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav said a 50 km section between Surat and Bilimora was likely to begin its operation in 2026, but officials have said that the latest issues could push the launch further.
