The Hindu : Karnataka News : `Corridor project should go ahead with or without NICE'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 03, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

`Corridor project should go ahead with or without NICE'

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, MARCH 2. The All-India Manufacturers' Organisation (AIMO) on Wednesday urged the Karnataka High Court to direct the State Government to go ahead with the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) Project with or without the participation of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE).

In its public interest litigation (PIL) petition, AIMO said it was founded by Sir M. Visvesvaraya and it is interested in the industrial development of the State. It said industries will get a boost and Bangalore could be decongested if the project is taken up.

`Move to derail project'

It alleged the coalition Government in the State is making efforts to derail the project. The project is being reviewed after a former Prime Minister wrote to the Government alleging illegal and unnecessary acquisition of lands.

It said the Government has reconstituted the high-level committee after receiving the letter.

The committee, which till 2004 was being headed by the Chief Secretary, is now headed by a retired engineer. Its constitution iss illegal and arbitrary and made with a view to delaying the commencement of the project.

Suggestion

The AIMO said it is interested only in the expeditious completion of the project and not whether NICE or any other company takes it up. It said the Government could even cancel the contract with NICE and on its own execute the project.

It said the Government defended the project till recently. It was only during the later part of the hearing of the appeals against a single-judge order that it decided to withdraw from the appeals.

The Government, it said, in earlier petitions, including a PIL in 1998, defended the acquisition of more than 20,000 acres. It is now alleging that lands were acquired in excess of the requirement.

The AIMO said the Government, in 1995, chose NICE as the agency to execute the BMIC project. The Government had vetted the project at various levels and given the go-ahead. However, the new Government is going slow on the project, it said.

A Division Bench comprising the Chief Justice, Nauvdip Kumar Sodhi, and Justice B. Padmaraj adjourned further hearing on the case to Thursday.

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