Karnataka - Bangalore   

BJP trying to wind up NICE cases: Gowda

BANGALORE: The former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president H.D. Deve Gowda has said that the case pertaining to the Bangalore-Mysore Expressway project being executed by the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) has taken a new turn with the BJP Government in Karnataka keen on extending more lands to the project, apparently in a bid to wind-up the cases pending before the courts.

He told The Hindu here on Saturday: “It is a clear case of collusion between NICE and the State Government much to the detriment of the people and in particular farmers in the guise of infrastructure development.” Mr. Deve Gowda cautioned Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa against falling prey to some vested interests trying to usurp government land.

“The Chief Minister should refrain from hurrying through in land allocation for NICE. Handing over any additional land other than that specified in the Frame Work Agreement will tantamount to going against the orders of the Supreme Court and invite the wrath of local farmers. Why the hurry when the courts are hearing various issues pertaining to the allocation of land and execution of the project?”

The Chief Minister should remember that he was a party to the Cabinet decisions of the H.D. Kumaraswamy Ministry, including the petitions and affidavits made over to courts.

He said several recent actions of the State Government brought to light the connivance of the BJP Government with the project promoters. It proved all apprehensions correct regarding the BJP Government’s true motives in taking decisions that rendered matters pending before Supreme Court as infructuous while giving lip service on record that the Supreme Court judgment was being followed and every step taken only to implement the judgment.

“In a way, the Government was preventing the Supreme Court from looking into the suppressed record relating to alleged frauds and forgeries carried out by NICE which had been submitted to the court.”

Mr. Deve Gowda said Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao had, in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court (soon after the BJP Government took charge), categorically stated that as per the Frame Work Agreement and the judgment in Somashekhar Reddy’s case, only 2,193 acres of land had to be made over for the peripheral road while in reality 2,678 acres of land had been handed over.

This affidavit was filed by the Chief Secretary in response to a contempt petition filed by NICE against the State Government.

Despite this admission before the Supreme Court, the former Prime Minister said, the State Government again sought to provide additional land to NICE.

In recent months, the Government through the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) held a meeting to review the progress of the first phase of BMIC and sought to provide additional land of 841 acres from landowners (over and above 2,678 acres of land already handed over against requirement of 2,193 acres as per Chief Secretary’s affidavit itself) to the project company.

However, the subsequent protests by farmers under the aegis of the Bhooswadina Virodhi Horata Vedike (committee against illegal land acquisition) prompted the KIADB on December 27 to withhold the allocation.

By seeking to give an additional 841 acres of land, the Government had sought to provide NICE with a benefit of nearly Rs. 1,000 crore.

The former Prime Minister said the Yeddyurappa Government should take a final call on the project and refrain from falling prey to any machinations or inducements.

“As such farmers of several districts were planning for a major agitation if the Government goes ahead in providing additional land other than that required for the expressway,” he said.

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

Stories in this Section

Of fun and frolic
Landlord shot at, injured
SIB’s new deposit scheme
BJP trying to wind up NICE cases: Gowda
Truckers continue strike
Former IB chief to be State’s security adviser
Notice to State, BMIC promoters on PIL over alignment of PRR
Ambedkar Veedhi to be closed for Metro project work
Master plan for management of zoos on anvil
Balija sangha seeks change in classification
WHO urged to come out with guidelines on healthy diet
How inclusive is knowledge?
‘Don’t rush through land allocation for NICE’
Training programme
Government has neglected us: loaders
Overwhelming response to citizen-police meet
Patriotic songs in schools, colleges
Business at fuel outlets resumes
Rs. 11 lakh looted from firm
Recruitment process for filling ASC Director’s post faulted
In Bangalore Today

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu