Approx. 940 hectares of land will be acquired for the Manmad-Indore railway track, which begins at Manmad Junction in Nashik district and passes through Dhule before entering Madhya Pradesh. The land acquisition is part of the Rs 18,000-crore project, sanctioned in 2016 under then Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu during the cabinet tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In Nashik, 360 hectares of land will be required across 21 villages in Nandgaon, Chandwad, and Malegaon talukas. The work of joint measurement of the land in the 21 villages of the district will begin in the latter half of June, as per a senior official. In Dhule district, more than 580 hectares will be needed. 240 hectares of land from Borvihir to Nardana have been already, and the railways is now taking possession of the same. The process of land acqusition has been initiated for another 120 hectares—in all, about 10 villages.

The track will pass through nine villages in Shindkheda and 18 in Shirpur, where over 220 hectares may be needed, though assessment is yet to be carried out in some areas. “Final route alignment will be ready in about two months,” said a senior official.