
Nashik: Nashik District Collector has appointed Ravindra Bharade as Land Acquisition Officer to oversee the acquisition of lands needed for the Manmad-Malegaon-Dhule-Indore Railway line.
The Manmad-Indore Railway has been sanctioned and approved by the Centre multiple times, the latest being in September 2024.
The appointment of Deputy Collector Ravindra Bharade as Special Officer for Land Acquisition is likely to expedite the new railway line – one of the oldest pending projects in the Indian history.
The new Railway line is projected to pass through Manmad, Malegaon, Dhule and to Indore. The new rail track spanning over 309 km will cut the existing rail distance of over 550 km by around 240 km.
The cost of the project is around 18,000 crore rupees which will be jointly borne by the Center and state governments in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
Around 187 hectares of land in the Malegaon and Nandgaon talukas will be acquired for the project. Once railway officials submit their demand for land, joint surveys with local farmers will take place, providing a clearer picture of the land needed, the officials said.
The last time the Mumbai Indore Railway line via Malegaon and Dhule was in news when the foundation stone of the project was laid by Prime Minister Modi in February 2019.
Manmad Indore Railway - Timeline
- The first ever survey for this railway route, which is supposed to pass through Malegaon, Dhule, Nerdana, Shirpur and Mahu before culminating at Indore, was done long before the independence in 1908.
- When Lalu Prasad Yadav was Railway Minister, he ordered feasibility survey of this project.
- When Suresh Prabhu presented his first railway budget in 2015, he ordered a fresh survey allocating a fund of Rs.1.32 cr for the purpose.
- The new railway line was approved by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in the 2016 Railway Budget. This was the second time Railway Ministry had given nod to Manmad-Indore railway line via Malegaon-Dhule. In 2012, then Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi had included this project in the 2012 Railway Budget.
- The project even though sanctioned by the Railway Ministry under Dinesh Trivedi could not be completed as the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh was not ready to share the 25% cost even though the Congress government in Maharashtra allocated the remaining 25% of the project in its budget.
- In December 2013, the Madhya Pradesh High Court pulled up the state government for the delay in implementation of Indore- Manmad rail line project and asked if the state would give its share of money to the project or not.
- On August 28, 2018, an MoU for the 362 km Indore-Dhule-Malegaon-Manmad New Railway Line Project was signed between JNPT- Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Railways, Govt of Maharashtra and Govt of Madhya Pradesh.
- Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone of the new railway line on February 16, 2019, barely few months before the 2019 Parliamentary elections.
- On September 02, 2024, Union Cabinet approves the project ahead of the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly Elections, vowing this time that it will be completed by 2028-29.
- Nashik District Collector appointed Ravindra Bharade as Land Acquisition Officer to oversee the acquisition of lands needed for the project.
"Of the total 309 km rail network, around 139 km will pass through Maharashtra including about 60 km through Malegaon and Nandgaon talukas of Nashik district. The appointment of a land acquisition officer will help speed up work," the Railways Department official said.
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