Mumbai, Oct. 29 -- With work on the high speed rail (HSR) or bullet train corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad picking up pace, efforts are underway to develop a central business district over 1,300 acres around Dativali, the bullet train station in Thane. "The union government does not want isolated development. So we are working on a local area plan for development of the area around the Thane bullet train station," Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) commissioner Saurabh Rao told Hindustan Times. "The new business district we are planning will be more advanced than the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC)." On Tuesday, the TMC issued the first notice under Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, for development of the area around the Thane bullet train station. The local area plan for the 1,300-acre area will be prepared by the TMC under the guidance of the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), the notice said. According to the notice, the plan will cover areas under the TMC including parts of Dativali, Mhatardi, Betawade and Agasan villages, along with areas under the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) including parts of Ayre, Kopar, Bhopar, Nandivali tarf Panchanand, Katai and Usarghar village. The municipal commissioner and administrator of KDMC had conveyed to the TMC via a letter dated November 7, 2024 their consent for unified planning of the said area, the notice said. On January 7 this year, the state urban development department had appointed the TMC for preparation of the local area plan, the notice stated. The bullet train corridor will commence from BKC and pass through Thane, Bhiwandi, Palghar and Dahanu in Maharashtra before entering Gujarat. "Most of the area around the four bullet train stations in Maharashtra is not developed. Since the bullet train will provide direct connectivity with the BKC, the urban development department feels a township can come up there," an official familiar with the plan told HT, requesting anonymity....