the fight between the Karnataka government and Bangalore-based Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (nice) has taken yet another ugly turn. nice has filed a petition against the state government for failing to handover land for the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project. The petition is coming up for hearing on August 27 at the Supreme Court.
"According to the framework agreement, the state government has to issue land sale deed in favour of project promoter, but it has stalled its issuance. We have no option but to file contempt petition," says Manjunath Naikar, public relations officer, nice, Bangalore.Earlier, on April 20 last year, the apex court had directed the Karnataka government to expedite work on the corridor project, which is facing roadblocks since its inception (see 'Bangalore-Mysore corridor leads nowhere', Down To Earth, November 15, 2006).
The state government has in turn filed an additional affidavit in the apex court on July 28 seeking permission to appoint the Global Infrastructure Consortium (gic), in place of nice, to complete the project. gic is a consortium of companies from India and the us, and has offered to complete the expressway within seven years. nice, however, claims that the state government cannot appoint a new project developer.
Fresh problems for the project began when Karnataka's industries minister, Katta Subramanya Naidu, on August 2, informed the legislative assembly that no more sale deeds would be executed to transfer land to nice and that the government had also directed the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board, the nodal agency for acquiring land for the project, not to issue no-objection certificates to farmers to facilitate land transfer.
Naidu was replying to a discussion on irregularities in the board's land allotment, for which K Sridhar, the board's secretary, was suspended on July 24. Sridhar had allegedly issued sale deed of about 65 hectares (ha) near Kengeri in favour of the project without informing the state government.
Opposition parties allege that the board is issuing no-objections to farmers to facilitate land transfer acquired for phase 2 and phase 3 of the project. Till now, nice has got 1,578 ha of the 2,833 ha proposed for the first phase of the expressway. Work on seven km of the 9.1 km link road is complete. The cost of the project in 1997 was Rs 1,750 crore, which has now risen to Rs 3,250 crore.
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
.png)
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.