The Hindu : Karnataka News : BMIC project was not approved by me: Deve Gowda

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 28, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

BMIC project was not approved by me: Deve Gowda

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MARCH 27. The former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) President, H.D. Deve Gowda, has denied that he was the mover of the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project.

In a statement, he said that the project was not approved when he was Chief Minister. It was approved by the Government in 1985 (when Ramakrishna Hegde was Chief Minister) and tenders were invited at that time to execute the project. As the bidding parties had imposed "unreasonable conditions," the project was then put in cold storage.

Signing of MoU

The former Prime Minister said he did not sign the MoU with NICE nor was it signed in its favour during his tenure. On February 22, 1995, an MoU was signed with a consortium of three foreign companies which had implemented major projects elsewhere (the consortium comprised Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., a company registered in the State of Massachusetts in the U.S. with the Kalyani Group of companies and SAB Engineering and Construction).

Mr. Gowda said: "But NICE was neither a party to the MoU nor is it a lawful inheritor of the rights of the said consortium of companies which signed the MoU. A framework agreement was signed by the Government of Karnataka with NICE on April 3, 1997 when J.H. Patel was Chief Minister. In that agreement it had been falsely stated that the MoU had been assigned in favour of NICE by the consortium."

He went on to say: "Though the Government of Karnataka was induced by the misrepresentation and fraud played by NICE and at least one senior official of the Government who was a signatory to the FWA and is now an employee of NICE, to sign the FWA in favour of NICE during the chief ministership of J.H. Patel, many acts and deeds have been committed by the Government in furtherance of the FWA. Thus at this juncture, the Government should honour that agreement and allow NICE to complete the project."

Denial

Denying criticism that he is placing hurdles in the implementation of the project, Mr. Gowda said that he is only insisting that it should be implemented in accordance with the framework agreement. Clause 6.6.1 of the Agreement, Section A of the project comprises a peripheral road of 41 km. between Hosur Road and Tumkur Road, a link road 11km. in length, 12 km. of expressway from Bangalore to Bidadi, eight interchanges on the peripheral road and two on the expressway and a township near Bidadi. The land requirement for the project has been worked out by the expert committee (headed by the former Secretary to the Public Works Department K.C. Reddy) at 2,080 acres for the road etc. and 2,387 acres 32 guntas for the township at Bidadi. But the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board has acquired 4,940 acres and 37 guntas of private land and the Government has transferred 1,977 acres 21 guntas of government (totalling 6,918 acres 18 guntas) to NICE for the section A of the project. "The FWA does not provide for development of township or commercial areas on either side of the peripheral road or the link road. The excess land of 2,450 acres and 25 guntas acquired or transferred violates the terms of the framework agreement," he said. Mr. Gowda questioned as to how the Managing Director of NICE, Ashok Kheny, could claim that work on the project has stopped, as he is himself making television presentations showing the work in progress.

"The truth is NICE is not keen on implementing the project beyond Bidadi. Earthwork is going on only near Bangalore. No one has come in the way of NICE implementing the project in accordance with the FWA," he said.

Objection

Mr. Gowda said his objections and those of landowners are confined to the 2,450 acres of excess land that is being acquired or handed over to NICE in violation of the FWA and about 2,300 acres pending at the acquisition stage. They are only urging the Government as also the High Court that excess land given to the company around Bangalore be taken back.

"Mr. Ashok Kheny is very well aware that the entire dispute is confined to the vast extent of excess land given to NICE and not about the project. But then why is he misleading the media, courts and public that I have mounted political pressure to stop the project? . The answer is simple. He is trying to garner sympathy and support from the people by creating the impression that `we are determined to stop an infrastructure project for which he has toiled for long years and spent a lot of money."

He has successfully diverted attention away from his sinister game plan to acquire nearly 5,000 acres of prime land around Bangalore of which 1,977 acres are government given to his company at the rate of Rs. 10 a acre per year, Mr. Gowda added.

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

Karnataka