India is set to miss a December deadline to acquire land for a Japan-backed $17 billion (¥1.87 trillion) bullet train project following protests by fruit growers, government officials said, likely delaying one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's most ambitious projects.
Modi's office is now monitoring the project week-to-week, as Indian officials seek to reassure Tokyo that the hurdles can be overcome through intense negotiations with sapota- and mango-growers in the western state of Maharashtra.
Protests, backed by local politicians, have flared up in recent months against attempts to secure sections of a 108-km stretch, which is around one-fifth of the entire bullet train corridor connecting Mumbai with Ahmedabad, the largest commercial city in Modi's home state of Gujarat.