Karnataka - Bangalore   

‘Don’t rush through land allocation for NICE’

H.D. Deve Gowda

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

Mr. Gowda cautioned Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa against falling “prey” to vested interests trying to usurp government land.

“The Chief Minister should refrain from hurrying through land allocation for NICE. Handing over any land other than that specified in the Frame Work Agreement will be tantamount to going against the orders of the Supreme Court and also inviting 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?”

Mr. Yeddyurappa should note that he was also a party to the Cabinet decisions of the Kumaraswamy Ministry, including the petitions and affidavits submitted to the courts, Mr. Gowda said.

Speaking to The Hindu, he said several recent actions of the government would render matters pending before the Supreme Court infructuous while paying “lip service” that its judgment was being followed and every step was being taken to implement the verdict.

Mr. Gowda said Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao, in an affidavit filed before the 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 was handed over. This affidavit came in response to a contempt petition filed by NICE against the government.

Despite this admission before the court, the former Prime Minister said, the government again sought to provide additional land.

The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board held a meeting to review the progress of the first phase of the BMIC and sought to provide an additional 841 acres from landowners (above 2,678 acres already handed over against the requirement of 2,193 acres as per the Chief Secretary’s affidavit itself) to the project company. However, subsequent protests by farmers under the aegis of the Bhooswadina Virodhi Horata Vedike prompted the board on December 27 to withhold the allocation.

By seeking to give an additional 841 acres, the government had sought to provide NICE benefits to the tune of about Rs. 1,000 crore in one stroke, Mr.Gowda alleged.

The Yeddyurappa government should take a final call on the project and refrain from falling prey to any machination or inducement.

As such, farmers of several districts were planning a major agitation if the government went ahead with providing land in excess of what was required for the expressway, Mr. Gowda said.

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