The Hindu : Karnataka News : `H.D. Revanna must resign'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

`H.D. Revanna must resign'

Staff Reporter

Minister misrepresented facts: NICE MD

BANGALORE: The Managing Director of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Ltd. (NICE), Ashok Kheny, has demanded the resignation of the Public Works and Energy Minister, H.D. Revanna, in the wake of the Karnataka High Court judgment directing the Government to go ahead with the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project.

Mr. Kheny told presspersons here on Tuesday that Mr. Revanna should resign for "misrepresenting facts." He said he would soon come out with a list of politicians who had attempted to defame his company and sue them.

He said NICE hopes to complete and dedicate portions of the first phase of the BMIC by August 15.

To a question on whether the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda's name will figure in the list of politicians, he said, "We will not succumb to political pressure and blackmail."

Mr. Kheny said that for 10 years NICE has been dragged through a long battle and the BMIC project got into a lot of trouble with politicians because it is the only mega project to have taken off out of the 45 for which agreements were signed between 1992 and 1995.

The delay in the project has escalated costs by about Rs. 100 crores. "We are spending Rs. 2 crores on it daily," he said.

But, the High Court ruling today, he said, has validated the public's confidence in the judicial system and will have far-reaching implications for the State. "It proves that law, transparency and equality will win in the end," he said

Action sought

Mr. Kheny said NICE will immediately require about 11,000 acres of the 20,193 acres in total to complete the first phase of the project in time. "We sincerely hope that the State Government will take serious note of the judgment and help us implement the project. We also hope that the State Government takes stringent and criminal action against the politicians and officers who have misled it and rendered the State financially liable and have caused undue losses to the State exchequer by continuously spreading misinformation through selective and distorted data on the project," he said.

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