Respected Sir,

You might kindly recall that I had requested for your visit to Mysore in connection with holding a meeting with members of MATF when I met you during Navarathri festival in Mysore. I followed it up with a communication and you were kind enough to respond immediately. In your reply you had mentioned that you are presently busy and that you are instructing your OSD to fix a time. We are looking forward to such a meeting. This specially oppertune because you have announced that Mysore would be declared as a Heritage City. This is a most important development for a long time.
I am digressing for the present on the isue of BMIC Project which is hanging like a Damocles sword over us. Some of us have takenan in depth look into it without prejudice the necessity for it. Since your government has already taken up improving the existing road upto Maddur and further improvement upto Mysore is already on the anvil it is oppertune for all of us to make a dispassioante outlook for the necessity for BMIC Project from not only about its technical relevance but also the impact on people and the socio-cultural upheaval it will cause. Mysore still retains the rural-urban ambience which is unique and visitors coming from other urban centres like Delh and Bangalore feel a sense of relief when they come to Mysore. Therefore, though urbanisation would be an inevitable progression that all cities eventually to contend with, it will be in our hands to see that developments takes place in a manner that retains the uique nature of cities. Mysore is exceptional from many considerations about which I need not dwell.
BMIC in my view apart from its technical drawbacks is fraught with causing human misery which can be easily avoided. I wrote an article quite some time ago on the subject arguing on the platform of technicality why it should be abandoned. I am separately enclosing the article which you may like to go throuh it and leave it your considered judgement.
In karnataka your governance has made a great impact and all of us feel proud of your achievement in the realm of IT and Bio-Technology and the general direction of development thrust both in rural and urban Karnataka. Being a person of vision and a unique record of having been judged successively as the best Chief Minister in India I do hope you will bestow your earnest thought to the appeal contained in this letter.
With respectful regards

H.R.Bapu Satyanarayana
229, 12th Main, 2nd Cross,
Saraswathipuram,
Mysore 570009

vimbapu@sancharnet.in

First is to define what is public interest.If the BDA forcibly acquires private land from one person to allot it to another person , is it public interst ? Does the present owner have no rights at all to his property? When the so called ""defence""/public sector land or that of some church etc is to be acquired, it CANNOT be done without negotiation.All this defence land etc was GIVEN to them free of cost for a specific purpose. Let them produce ownership documents to show that they ""OWN"" the land. They are just caretakers and nothing more. The Trinity church has made a commercial complex on land that was GIVEN to it. This land HAS NOT been purchased. But a simple notification to acquire this is not enough.If that is so how come private lands that have actually been purchased can be taken ?

Public interest is that which benefits a majority if not all the people. Karnataka has become a permanent drought / famine case in the last four years under the new hitech govt. The one and only one reason for this is the slaughter of trees and addition of concrete. No amount of money or cloud seeding will get us rains. Telling farmers not to grow certain crops will lead to shortage of those crops as also the loss of livelihood to those farmers.It is now well established that the widening of roads, BDA sites/flyovers, new airport etc have resulted in the loss of greenery and addition of concrete which cause increase in temperature / pollution and failure of monsoon. Planting saplings in their place is a laughable joke. What is the survival rate of thes saplings? how long will they take to become trees? It is just like teliing a man ""we will take you away and give a kid to your family in your place""! Is that not stupid? Long before the even the start of construction of the new airport, international flights are operating from the existing airport.In fact airlines are competing to start operations from HAL airport. If that airport was not suitable , how come so many flights are operating ?

Therefore these actions are obviously NOT PUBLIC INTEREST and can therefore be halted by a court of law. The govt that should be prosecuted for causing the shrinking water table has the guts to say it will control ground water! BWSSB which cannot supply adequate water charges you more if you have a borewell! the govt that cannot meet the electricity demand has the guts to tax generators that became necessary because of the failure of the system! There are many many more points.

regards

K S Narayan
narayankay@yahoo.com

Bangalore -Mysore Expressway Project has become an emotive issue. Opinions are divided about the merits and demerits about the necessity for the project. This has happened because there has been lack of transparency and selective release of information to downright suppression of facts by the government. This has given rise to all sorts of speculation and doubts in the minds of the public. The government went through the motions of public hearings bowing to the public pressure. However this came too late in the day when all the details of the project had been finalised and served little purpose. It was apparent during the hearings that the government had already made up its mind regardless of objections, which were brushed aside.

Since the opposition to the project was gaining momentum, it appeared the government too seemed tentative and hesitant to go ahead with the project. This is reflected in government coming out with announcement several times during past two years that the project would start soon and yet nothing happened. Now comes the news (Times of India dt. 10/9/02) that the government will take on an experimental basis 62 km of two lane highway instead of 4 lanes. Th reason given is that 4-lane full length will take nearly 7 years while 62 km road can be completed in a year. There is also an announcement in Andolana of 22/8/02 inviting suggestions from the public in respect of intended macro development project for revised Bangalore-Mysore infrastructure corridor area. The suggestions have to be given to the concerned authorities within two months of the publication of the notice which is dated 17/8/02. These are confusing signals.

In the following an attempt is made for the information of the general public purely from technical considerations to put facts in their proper perspective. The intention is that the public can take an informed decision on merits of the case.

Main considerations that weighed with the government to opt for the Expressway project as reflected in the Executive Summary prepared by NICE Ltd are as follows.

1.. It describes the EXISTING Bangalore-Mysore highway (SH 17) and the road passing through Kanakapura, Malavalli etc (SH 86) as narrow, winding and with poor surface.
2.. SH 17 presently carries 8300 vehicles per day and for most of the length it carries 6800 vehicles per day.
3.. Traffic on Expressway when constructed would carry 27,000 to 34,000 vehicles per day by 2021 consisting of traffic diverted from the existing roadways, traffic generated from annual growth and traffic generated from the proposed townships.
4.. Reduced distance of 111 km.
5.. Saving due to reduced travelling time ie 11/2 hours instead of 3 hours.
6.. Substantial fuel saving due to increased vehicle speed.
7.. Saving due to reduction of accidents.
8.. Project will cost Rs. 2000 crore.
Reality of the situation is as follows.

1.. To describe the condition of SH 17 as narrow, winding and with poor surface is highly exaggerated and biased. In Ramnagar and Cennapatna the road runs as divided highway. Government of Karnataka is improving the whole length to 4-lanes and project is under preparation for the remaining length. Bangalore to Malvali a distance of 105 km is now a part of National Highway No. 209 and comes under the Central Government who maintain it to international standards. Remaining stretch of SH 86 from Malavalli to Mysore a distance of 45 km is presently having intermediate road width of 5.5 m
2.. SH 17 which caries 8300 vehicles in few stretched is performing satisfactorily and cars even run at 80km/hr. When it is developed into 4 lanes which is underway it can carry 16600 vehicles perday (8300x2)
3.. If the carrying capacity of Expressway is around 30,500 (average) assuming the traffic projections as valid, when SH17 is eventually improved the pressure on proposed Expressway would be reduced to 13,900 (30,500-16,600). If Malavalli to Mysore link is also declare as a National Highway link which can easily done if the government makes a case, it can carry another 8000 vehicles. This leaves about 5900 vehicles for the Expressway. This balance can be met with doubling the railway and eventually electifying the route. Thus there is no necessity for Expressway at all. In fact it is time that Government moves the Centre to declare SH 17 AS A National Higway as it satisfies all the requirements.
4.. Distance of 111km is between the outer ring roads of Bangalore and Mysore . The actual distance from the city centre works out to 125 km. The distance along SH 17 is 140 KM and via Malavalli works out to 150 km.
5.. There is only a marginal difference in travel time. More over on Expressway normally provides for comfort stops with the state of the art facilities. These are additional attractions where travelling public stop and eventually the time taken to reach Mysore will not vary significantly compared to other routes specially when the route of NH 209 is extended to Mysore and SH 17 is declared as NH. More over it must be realised even in advanced countries like USA the speed limit is 55mph (88kmph) except in few stretches where it is 70mph (112kmph). Another factor has to be considered. Out of total vehicle population Buses, Trucks and LCVs FORM 57%. Is it possible to envisage these vehicles hurtling at such speed for which the Expressway has been designed?
6.. As per World Bank aided Road User Cost Study carried out by the Road Research Institute, Delhi there is an optimal speed and any increase in speed such as 120 km for which the Expressway is being designed the fuel consumption would be nearly double. Even assuming only 30% extra fuel due to increae in speed rough calculations indicate the total consumption will increse by 8403 te for petrol and 77,373 for deisel. Apart from extra expenditure involved the country can ill afford this profligacy when we are already feeling the pinch. Another factor has been omitted about higher pollution at higher speed.
7.. Although saving due to reduction is theoretically valid, there is another danger. When accidents happen at high speeds it will be diasterous as several vehicles will be involved. More over we must consider the Indian reality where driving competancyis poor. There are othe peculiar conditions in India. For example on Bombay-Poona Expressway 85% of the accidents were due to bursting of tyres.
8.. Project will cost substantially more than Rs. 2000 crores. More likely it will be around Rs. 6000 crores by the time project gets completed.
9.. There is another important factor to be considered . Expressway would mean provision of assured supply of water and power to the five Townships to be developed. We can illaffford this when already we are facing severe shortage on both these fronts.
In view of the factors mentioned let the people decide.

H.R.Bapu Satyanarayana

Convener, MGP.

I somehow feel that the current government is not concerned about nature and its conservation as it used to be during Mrs Indira Gandhi's reign. Hope you take some action immediately to stop this project.

Your's sincerely,
Kishen Das

(GXS, ITC-Trainee)" Kishen.Das@gxs.com

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Reg.: Cancel BMIC Project permanently

Respected Shri. S.M. Krishna,

I am very pleased to note your recent indignation on the pathetic progress on the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project (BMIC), when inaugurating the 4-laning works by Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd. (KRDCL) of the Maddur-Bangalore section of SH-17 (Bangalore Mysore Highway).

As I have noted in my previous email correspondence with you, expansion of SH-17 would indeed eliminate the need for BMIC. This expansion has much less impact on the local environment and on the state's financial resources than the odious BMIC project. Hence, your decision to expand the SH-17 is laudable.

On this note, it is also imperative that you CANCEL this inefficient BMIC project. There is simply no need to waste money on this project. You would save the State of Karnataka enormous losses and an un-sustainable financial burden, while also protecting the farmers of the Bangalore Mysore region from gross
injustice, if you were to firmly state that the BMIC project would be abandoned.

Given BMIC's flawed model for urbanization based on outdated concepts from the US, the serious doubts about capacity of NICE to build BMIC as indicated by the inordinate time spent with little to show for it, the questionable allotment of public lands to NICE, the lack of transparency in the BMIC clearance, and the disastrous social and environmental consequences, it is surprising that the project has been allowed to continue for so long.

Cancelling BMIC would also win you immense support from hundreds of thousands of directly affected farming and other project affected families who have
been tormented for several years now by the BMIC proponents and Land Acquisition officers to give up their land. At an election year, such support from the farmers could be very helpful. Therefore, I urge you to be just and visionary by rejecting the flawed BMIC project, once and for all.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Ananth Chikkatur
New York

ap_chikkatur@yahoo.com

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