According to a report by Pune Mirror, the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition government of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress may soon scrap the experimental hyperloop project between Mumbai and Pune. This comes close on heels of reports of various other projects either stalled or scrapped by the new government in Maharashtra.
According to the report, the NCP feels that the hyperloop project is an ‘expensive experiment’ and the Shiv Sena has said that the decision on the multi-crore project will be taken after a review. The project has now been placed under review and may be scrapped.
In 2017, the Devendra Fadnavis government through Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) had signed an MOU with Virgin Hyperloop One, a US based company to carry out a study identifying potential routes and analyse economical impact as well as technical viability.
The hyperloop project, if completed, may have brought down transport time between Mumbai and Pune to 15 minutes. However, within days of coming to power, the new government has put the project under scrutiny.
Earlier this month, NCP leader and Sharad Pawar’s daughter, Supriya Sule, wrote a letter to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray asking him to immediately shut down the Mahaportal service started by the Devendra Fadnavis government with the aim to provide employment opportunities to the youth of Maharashtra. Sule asserted that far from addressing the grievances of the people, it has increased the problems faced by the aspirants due to improper functioning of the portal. Besides this, Uddhav Thackeray has also ordered a review of all developmental projects going on in the state including the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train.
