Date:21/07/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/07/21/stories/2004072104230300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Landowners seek review of BMIC project

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, JULY 20. Lack of clarity and vested interests surrounding the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project had seriously damaged the interests of landowners, the Bangalore Landowners' Welfare Association said on Tuesday.

H.V. Vijayaraghavan, president of the association, and other office-bearers told presspersons here that though the Karnataka High Court stopped the acquisition of land in December 2003 for purposes other than construction of the roads, interchanges, and ramps, the State Government had obtained a stay on the order.

However, after a change of Government, the project was being reviewed at the behest of the former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, they said. The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, who was the Public Works Minister in the previous Government, would safeguard the interests of farmers whose lands were to be acquired for the project, they added.

The association wanted a total review of the project and urged the Public Works Department to implement the project. The Government should also withdraw various concessions given to the promoters of the project and institute a high-level enquiry into the alleged irregularities pertaining to the project, the association said. If these demands were not met, the association would launch an agitation, the office-bearers warned.