Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship bullet train project has had its share of both publicity and opposition. It seems the project is attracting its share of fake news too.
CLAIM
Facebpook page ‘Viral in India’, in a post, has claimed that PM Modi said the proposed bullet train will start its services from 2019.
TRUE OR FALSE
The claim isn’t true. While the construction of the bullet train corridor is slated to begin in January 2019, the services are expected to begin only in 2022.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
The post gained significant traction as it was shared more than 1,300 times till the time this article was written.
In this speech from the foundation laying ceremony of the project, Modi can be heard saying ( from 26:00 to 26:20) that he hopes the project will be completed by 2022 and he wishes to inaugurate the bullet train with Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
An Economic Times article quotes officials to report that the construction of the 508-km long bullet train corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will begin in January 2019.
The article also states that land acquisition will be completed by the end of 2018 and the mega project, costing Rs 1.08 lakh crore, will be completed by the end of 2022.
The project, however, has run into roadblocks with villagers protesting against land acquisition for the corridor.
A Mint article suggests that only 0.9 hectare of land had been acquired out of the 1,400 hectares needed. A group of farmers affected by the project have petitioned the Gujarat High Court,the article added.
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