Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train works: Survey starts after residents complain of cracks to structures
Palghar (PTI): The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited executing the multi-billion dollar Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project on Friday said a survey has begun after cracks were reported in certain structures along the construction route in Maharashtra's Palghar district.
The NHSRCL said "controlled blasting" was underway in the area under the supervision of district authorities and in the presence of local villagers to ensure transparency and safety.
In a release, the NHSRCL said a technical team has been mobilised to assess the situation and determine the cause of the damage.
"To ensure an independent evaluation, NHSRCL has also engaged a third-party technical expert agency to carry out a detailed survey. The survey of the affected structures has already commenced in the village and so far more than 290 structures have been surveyed," it said.
The findings from this expert agency will determine the further course of action, including any remedial measures that may be required, the NHSRCL said in the statement.
The statement comes amid concerns raised by local residents regarding structural cracks that appeared during the ongoing construction works for the high speed rail corridor.
The 508-kilometre Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project involves extensive tunnelling, blasting, and advanced civil engineering works, officials said, adding safety of people and structures along the route were the top priority.
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Rahul Gandhi calls Great Nicobar Island project a ‘major threat’ to environment, tribal heritage
Sri Vijaypuram (Port Blair)/ Nicobar: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticised the Centre’s development initiative in Great Nicobar Island on Wednesday, On his maiden visit to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Gandhi alleged that the project will lad to large-scale environmental degradation and displacement of local communities.
The Rae Bareli MP, in a post on X after visiting the island, said the project would lead to extensive deforestation and adversely impact indigenous populations.
“So I will say it plainly, and I will keep saying it: what is being done in Great Nicobar is one of the biggest scams and gravest crimes against this country’s natural and tribal heritage in our lifetime,” Gandhi added.
“The government calls what it is doing here a ‘Project’. What I have seen is not a project. It is millions of trees marked for the axe… It is communities that have been ignored while their homes have been snatched away,” Gandhi said.
Describing the initiative as “destruction dressed in development’s language”, he termed it one of the “biggest scams” against the country’s natural and tribal heritage and called for it to be stopped.
Gandhi also claimed that nearly 160 square kilometres of rainforest could be affected, raising concerns over ecological damage.
