Karnataka

Deve Gowda urges govt to take over BMIC project

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Bangalore, Dec 7, 2013, DHNS : JD(S) leader and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda on Saturday demanded that the State government to take over the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project for alleged violations of framework agreement and court orders by its promoter Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Limited (NICE).

Addressing a press conference in Bangalore, Gowda charged the promoters with failing to implement its own commitment of paying compensation to the farmers who lost their land for the project.

Gowda said the promoters had questioned Bangalore urban deputy commissioner’s recent order to pay compensation of Rs 40 lakh per acre for lands being acquired for the project at Gonipura, Tippur and Sheegehalli in Bangalore South taluk stating DCs did not have the powers to issue compensation awards.

At the same time, Gowda wondered why the promoters had no problems when compensation award of only Rs one lakh per acre was issued by DCs in 1999 for the project. He alleged the project promoters fabricated various government records in their favour in collusion with officials. The promoters had also failed to release Rs 522 crore they had promised to invest in the project, he said.

He alleged the latest move by NICE that it was ready to provide 40 per cent of developed land to those who have lost their land for the township project proposed at Bidadi was an eyewash.

Gowda said the motive behind the promoters’ offer was to evade the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2013, which will come into effect on January 1, 2014. Gowda said the promoters will have to pay four times the guidance value to the land loser once the new land acquisition bill is notified.

He said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should take note of the alleged violations and issue orders to take over the project. He also sought an inquiry by a special investigation task force or the Central Bureau of Investigation into the lapses.

In a letter to Siddaramaiah, Gowda has urged him not to implement the Akrama-Sakrama scheme of regularisation of unauthorised sites and building byelaw violations until steps are initiated to recover all encroached government land.

Various committees had estimated that 45,000 acres of government land had been encroached in and around Bangalore alone.

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