Karnataka

NICE project: Gowda cautions Yeddyurappa

H.D. Deve Gowda

BANGALORE: The former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president, H.D. Deve Gowda, has said that the case pertaining to the Bangalore-Mysore Expressway project being executed by the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) had taken a new turn with the BJP government in Karnataka keen on extending more land to the project, apparently in a bid to wind up the cases pending before the courts.

Mr. Gowda cautioned Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa against falling a “prey” to vested interests trying to usurp government land. “The Chief Minister should refrain from hurrying through in land allocation for NICE. Handing over any additional land other than that specified in the Frame Work Agreement will be tantamount to going against the orders of the Supreme Court and also inviting the wrath of local farmers. Why the hurry when the courts are hearing various issues pertaining to the allocation of land and execution of the project?,” he added.

The Chief Minister should note that he was also a party to the Cabinet decisions of the Kumaraswamy Ministry, including the petitions and affidavits made over to courts, he added.

The former Prime Minister said several recent actions of the State government in this regard would render matters pending before the Supreme Court infructuous while giving “lip service” on record that the Supreme Court judgment was being followed and every step was being taken only to implement the judgment.

Mr. Gowda said the Chief Secretary to the Karnataka government, Sudhakar Rao, had, in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court (soon after the BJP Government took charge), categorically stated that as per the Frame Work Agreement and the judgment in Somashekhar Reddy’s case, only 2,193 acres of land had to be made over for the peripheral road while in reality 2,678 acres of land had been handed over.

This affidavit was filed by the Chief Secretary in response to a contempt petition filed by NICE against the State government.

Despite this admission before the Supreme Court, the former Prime Minister said, the State Government again sought to provide additional land.

The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board held a meeting to review the progress of the first phase of the BMIC and sought to provide an additional 841 acres from landowners (above 2,678 acres of land already handed over against requirement of 2,193 acres as per Chief Secretary’s affidavit itself) to the project company. However, subsequent protests by farmers under the aegis of the Bhooswadina Virodhi Horata Vedike prompted the KIADB on December 27 to withhold the allocation.

By seeking to give an additional 841 acres, the government had sought to provide NICE with benefit of about Rs. 1,000 crore in one stroke, he claimed.

The Yeddyurappa government should take a final call on the project and refrain from falling prey to any machinations or inducements.

“As such, farmers of several districts were planning a major agitation if the government goes ahead in providing additional land other than that required for the expressway,” the Janata Dal (S)_ leader said.

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