MYSORE: Managing Director of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) Ashok K. Kheny has welcomed the Karnataka Government's decision to order a judicial probe into Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC).

Mr. Kheny told presspersons here after Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) frustrated his efforts to perform bhoomi puja on the Mysore leg of the BMIC project on Friday that the probe should cover not only previous officers involved in the affairs of the project, but also the existing ones. "These officials are misleading the Vidhana Sabha," he said referring to the allegations levelled against NICE during the debate in the Legislature session.

Earlier, the much-publicised launch of the Mysore leg of the controversial BMIC failed to take off on Friday with the MUDA preventing Mr. Kheny from performing the ground-breaking ceremony till its land acquisition dues were cleared.

The police had imposed ban orders on 14 acres and 14 guntas of land at Rajivnagar III Phase on the outskirts of the city after MUDA lodged a complaint that NICE personnel were trying to "trespass" into its land.

After a last-ditch effort to secure permission for the "bhoomi puja" by meeting Deputy Commissioner Selva Kumar, who heads MUDA, Mr. Kheny announced the postponement of the programme. "We will start work by July 11," he said.

When Mr. Kheny arrived in Mysore on Friday, he found the entry to the temporary road leading to the project site from the Outer Ring Road barricaded and hundreds of policemen standing guard. Mr. Kheny told presspersons here on Friday that NICE had deposited Rs. 110 crore with the Government towards the cost of the land to be acquired by Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) for the BMIC project. "It is the KIADB which should pay the land acquisition cost to MUDA," he said.

He said the State Government had issued an order permitting him to start work from Bangalore end as well as the Mysore end. Besides, the Supreme Court had ordered the completion of the BMIC project, he said.

Mr. Kheny went to the office of the Deputy Commissioner and requested him to allow NICE to perform bhoomi puja on the land earmarked for the BMIC project. But Mr. Selva Kumar told him that MUDA would not allow NICE personnel access to the land until its acquisition dues, amounting to Rs. 84 lakh, were cleared.

`Spoken to officials'

Mr. Kheny told Mr. Selva Kumar that he had spoken to KIADB officials, who had promised to make the payment by noon. Mr. Kheny tried in vain to contact KIADB officials from his mobile phone even as he was trying to seek permission from the Deputy Commissioner for starting work on the project in Mysore. Mr. Selva Kumar told presspersons that MUDA would hand over land to NICE soon after KIADB paid the acquisition dues.

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