Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

BJP hits out at Govt. on BMIC project

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore July 15. The BJP members in the Legislative Assembly today termed the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project anti-farmer and accused the Government of favouring the private sector Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) which proposed the project.

S.Suresh Kumar, who had tabled a question on the expressway project, was not satisfied with the reply given by the Public Works Minister, Dharam Singh. He demanded to know why the Government had not considered alternative projects such as doubling the railway track, widening the existing highway into a four-lane one, and building another highway through Kanakapura. He alleged that the company which had come forward to build the project had failed to deposit with the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board the stipulated 40 per cent of the cost of acquisition of land for the project. The Government had agreed to lease out the land to the company at a measly Rs. 10 an acre per year. Mr. Suresh Kumar later walked out of the House alleging that the expressway project was a sell-out.

Mr. Dharam Singh said that the project should not be politicised. It was conceived in 1995 by the previous Government and the foundation stone was laid in 1998. The Government had to acquire 20,913 acres of land for the project and the cost of acquisition would be Rs. 450 crore. The Union Ministry of Environment had cleared the project and the State Government was of the view that such a clearance was not required for building the townships, which were part of the project.

Mr. Dharam Singh said that compensation would be paid to the farmers once the Industrial Area Development Board issued the final notification for acquisition and the deputy commissioners fixed the rate of compensation. He further said that the compensation would be paid according to the prevailing market rate. The company was about to announce the financial closure and the project should be completed within a period of 10 years from then on. Mr. Dharam Singh said that work on the project would be taken up from both the ends, Bangalore and Mysore. The minister said the project was necessary and it would reduce the travelling time between the two cities to 75 minutes. The opposition to the project was based on misinformation.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Kalam gets overwhelming support of MLAs
• Mahadev warns suppliers of adulterated milk
• BJP hits out at Govt. on BMIC project
• SriLankan Airlines begins flights to City
• Closed-circuit TV to help remove touts from RTOs

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu