Mumbai: Criticising the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project that was unveiled in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, the Shiv Sena has said India’s central government should focus on safety and the efficient running of existing trains in the country.

“Every day there are train accidents and derailments in our country — and people get killed and injured — yet this government is focusing on projects like the bullet train,” stated an editorial in the Sena’s mouthpiece, Saamana.

Though the Sena is an ally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre and in Maharashtra, it criticised the project and said it was not a dream project of the common Indian but that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The editorial came on the day Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe laid the foundation stone of India’s first bullet train project in Ahmedabad.

“We are getting a bullet train without asking for it. We do not know exactly which problem will this project solve,” the Sena said.

The editorial also pointed that the high-speed bullet train project is being realised over and above the demands for rail projects in the Vidarbha, Marathwada and Konkan regions of Maharashtra.

The Sena described it as Modi’s expensive “dream project” which will “loot the nation of Rs1,080 billion [Dh61.74 billion].”

According to the Sena, the newly appointed Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, also the BJP treasurer, has been specially brought in for the project.

Taking a dig at the project, it said “Japan will bring everything for the project — from nails to rails, manpower to technology and even concrete whilst the land and money will come from Gujarat and Maharashtra, and Tokyo will reap in the profits. Despite, the loot and fraud, all are congratulating Modi’s pet project.”

The Sena also said Mumbai’s overburdened and unsafe suburban rail network was suffering due to lack of funds and many projects remained incomplete.

“However, bullet trains will now zip between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

“The bullet train is not the dream of ordinary Indians,” it said, “It will only cater to the rich and wealthy classes for which Goyal has been specially chosen … and to give something ‘new’ to the industrialists of Gujarat where elections are coming up shortly.”

The Sena did not also spare Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who, “When we raised the issue of complete waiver of farmers’ loans, had warned of ‘anarchy’ in this fund-starved state. Now, of the 508-kilometre high speed rail link, 156km and four stations will run through the state of Maharashtra for which it would need to spend at least Rs300 billion and in addition spend on rehabilitation of farmers and project-affected persons.”

Indicating how mega projects — like the Bhakra-Nangal Dam, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and others — in the past initiated by first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had helped in the country’s development and progress in science and technology, the Sena questioned how the bullet train was of national importance.