Karnataka   

9.2-km stretch of BMIC road inaugurated

Staff Reporter

There were no representatives from the State Government

Bangalore: The 9.2-km stretch of the peripheral road of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) Project was inaugurated at Hemmigepura, Bangalore Rural district, on Friday. There were no representatives from the State Government at the function.

Fifty-eight children dressed in costumes representing different States and two elderly women, who gave up their land for the project, did the honours at the function.

The organisers of the event had arranged for vehicles to bring villagers from places as far as Devanahalli. Several artistes participated in the function to make it colourful and performed folk art forms.

Sharadamma (93) and Ramakka (86), who were the chief guests at the function, told presspersons that they had given away a part of their land willingly for the project. The Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE), which is executing the project, said: "The project is the only infrastructure project with a gestation period of 10 years. It has gone through seven Prime Ministers, four Chief Ministers (Karnataka), 15 Ministers for Public Works, eight Chief Secretaries, eight secretaries of the Department of Public Work, six secretaries of the Department of Urban Development, 10 secretaries of Department of Infrastructure and over 350 IAS officers. It has been discussed in over 100 Cabinet meetings and has been signed by 10,500 government officials, making it the most scrutinised project in the State."

The former Minister D.K. Shivakumar said he was glad that the first phase of the project had been inaugurated. About the absence of representatives from the Government, he said that after the completion of the project, the Government might e involved in a big function. He said the BMIC project had helped in improving the economic life of the people in the surrounding villages. "Such projects should be encouraged. That way, the private sector will be encouraged to invest in the State," he said.

Rajajinagar MLA N.L. Narendra Babu said: "The stretch has been inaugurated without the presence of the head of the State. It is not a good omen. Ideally, everyone from the Government should have participated." T. Mohandas Pai of Infosys felt the project should not be taken over by the State Government.

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