India, June 24 -- Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Pune region representing the Nationalist Congress Party/NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) have demanded that the originally proposed route for the Pune-Nashik high-speed railway project be retained while raising concerns over the decision to change the alignment due to the presence of the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in Khodad, Junnar taluka. Citing global examples of coexistence between railway and radio telescope facilities in Germany, the US, Australia, and South Africa, the MPs have questioned why the GMRT project should pose an obstacle to the rail line in India.

The issue was discussed during a meeting held on Monday under the chairma...