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BMIC: numbers game by KIADB

Bangalore: The land acquisition agreement signed between the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) and Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) for the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP) on October 14, 1998 was so carelessly drafted that it resulted in an additional allocation of about 2,000 acres for the road project being implemented by NICE.

A close reading of the agreement reveals that there are two sets of figures: one given in the text of the agreement and the other in the annexure. The text states that the KIADB will acquire 21,000 acres of private land to be handed over for the project, whereas the annexure only refers to the land in acres to be acquired from 144 villages.

However, the figures given for each village add up to 23,846 acres, which is 2,846 acres more than what is mentioned in the text of the agreement.

The original Frame Work Agreement (FWA) that was signed in 1997 by the State Government and NICE permitted the acquisition of only 13,237 acres of private land for the project. Add to this 6,956 acres of government land that the FWA allowed, and the extent of land notified by the KIADB rises to 29,514 as against the 20,193 acres permitted for the project in the FWA.

In an added complication, the KIADB, on instructions from the Government, rechecked the land notified for the project and found that it had notified pockets of land in certain villages around Bangalore and in some taluks that did not feature in the 1998 agreement.

In a communication on May 5, 2008, the KIADB informed the Government that land notified in Basavapura (14 acres), Thotadaguddadahalli (210), Madanayakanahalli (30), Uttari (187), Kumbalagodu Gollahalli (37), Naganayakanahalli (70), K. Chodahalli (60) — all on the outskirts of Bangalore — and elsewhere between Ramanagaram and Mysore, did not find any mention in the 1998 agreement.

Some part of these lands had already been handed over to NICE, the communication said.

In a press release issued here on Wednesday, NICE said, “From the beginning, we have always maintained that we require only 20,193 acres of land, which is as per the Framework Agreement and not an inch more than that. However, repeated accusations are being made against us that we are acquiring ‘excess land’. This issue has been heard several times in the courts, which have upheld our true intentions to implement the project in letter and spirit as per the Framework Agreement.”

(Concluded)

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