Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

Revoke permission to sell BMIC land: JD(S)

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore Jan. 3. The senior leaders of the Janata Dal (Secular), H. Ekantaiah and S.K. Kantha, have demanded that the State Government immediately withdraw the January 2001 order pertaining to granting a blanket permission to the Kalyani group to market the land vested with it for the Bangalore-Mysore Expressway project.

Angered by the alleged communal twist given to the controversy with at least five senior All-India Progressive Janata Dal (AIPJD) leaders belonging to the Veerashaiva community defending the Chief Secretary who belongs to the same community, the Janata Dal (S) fielded the two former Ministers, who also hail from the community, to defend the charges levelled by the party President and former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, over a week ago. Their argument was that it was improper to give a communal turn to matters of State and national interest. Interestingly, the AIPJD leaders have chosen to defend only the Chief Secretary but not the others connected with the allegations levelled by the former Prime Minister.

Mr. Ekantaiah and Mr. Kantha told presspersons that if the Krishna Government was sincere in its efforts in implementing the Expressway project and ensuring that the land notified for the project was not sold to other private companies or individuals, then it should immediately withdraw the order granting permission to the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) to market it. " "In recent weeks, NICE itself advertised that it was into real estate business and that the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) was a real estate venture and that it had developed residential sites of various dimensions for sale.

Mr. Ekantaiah said as per the statement made by the Public Works Minister, Dharam Singh, and the Industries Minister, R.V. Deshpande, with reference to the former Prime Minister's charges, the State Government had notified for 5,776 acres of land in Bangalore North and Bangalore South taluks. "The focus of attention is apparently on the land adjoining the Bangalore metropolitan area. Until today, neither the private promoters nor the Government is aware of the quantum of land required for the project nor the alignment for the expressway. On the contrary, land is being acquired at a nominal price and being vested with the private promoter for real estate development or for direct sale to other parties.

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