The Hindu : Karnataka News : Deve Gowda's remarks surprise NICE

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Deve Gowda's remarks surprise NICE

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MARCH 28. Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Ltd. (NICE), executing the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project, has expressed surprise at the statement of former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (S) President, H.D. Deve Gowda, that the company is spreading misinformation to the media.

"It was the request of the Karnataka Government and the then Chief Minister, Mr. Deve Gowda, that a business delegation led by the Governor of Massachusetts in the U.S. came to this State. On February 22, 1995, Mr. Deve Gowda signed the memorandum of understanding with the consortium consisting of the Kalyani Group of India and two U.S.-based companies in the presence of the Governor of the American State. Nowhere in the Framework Agreement was it stated that the MoU was signed with NICE. What was actually stated is that the consortium has assigned its rights to NICE, a company created for implementing the project. It is in accordance with the laws and established company rules," the NICE managing director, Ashok Kheny, said.

The assignment rights were acknowledged by the State Government through a GO dated March 27, 1997 and subsequently ratified in the Framework Agreement of April 3, 1997.

NICE submitted this agreement to the Government, which then sought the advice of the international legal expert, Arthur Anderson."Nearly 21 meetings of the core group involved with the agreement were held during the chief ministership of Mr. Deve Gowda and later J.H. Patel. Mr. Deve Gowda's claim that he did not know the existence of our company then does not conform to facts," Mr. Kheny said.

He drew attention to the Framework Agreement clause that clearly stated that "the Government will not restrict the use of land in any way and the company shall have full freedom and discretion to industrially and commercially develop and use the land."

The commercial use of the land was very much part of the project.

The land actually acquired for the project so far was only 2,450 acres.

The lands needed for the BMIC project were identified through satellite imagery, aerial survey and by scientific methods.

These lands were indicated to the Government as early as in September 1997, he said.

The then Chief Secretary had issued directions to all departments concerned that the lands should not be alienated for any other project.

Regarding the opposition to the project now, Mr. Kheny said: "The IT revolution had led to the rapid growth of Bangalore and increase in land prices. Many land developers have benefited from this but did not contribute to basic infrastructure, which has resulted in the mess the city is in now. If our primary aim was real estate, we could have achieved it without BMIC and any of the current controversies," he explained.

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