• Corridor of controversy

Investigation

By N. Bhanutej

Land-grabbing has been elevated to the level of art in Karnataka. A handful of politicians, supported by some bureaucrats, have twisted rules and regulations to feed the appetite of land-grabbers masquerading as infrastructure developers. Making the most of the real estate boom around the ever-growing Silicon Valley, they acquired lands for a pittance in the name of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP) and sold them off at astronomical sums to others. In effect, the state played the role of a real estate broker in the transaction. Documents available with The Week show that successive governments caused huge losses to the exchequer and showered undue benefits on a private company.

Madavara villagers (showing map, above) say most of the land acquired falls in the green belt. (Right, Sompura village would cease to exist once the project is completed.)

The deals have caused pain to many. M. Nagabhushan settled down in Madavara in Bangalore North taluk after resigning his State Bank of Mysore job, 25 years ago. He started a dairy business on a two-acre plot, one and a half kilometres from the Bangalore-Pune Highway (NH4). Nagabhushan’s business thrived and he bought 14 acres. Slowly he switched over to agriculture and planted areca. "The plants are just beginning to yield. Now, they want to take away my land," said a distraught Nagabhushan.

In Madavara village, the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) has acquired 223.57 acres belonging to 140 farmers. Nagabhushan has challenged the acquisition in court, but almost all the other farmers have accepted a compensation of Rs 10 lakh an acre, fixed by the Board. Not all were willing to give their lands but officials told them if they did not agree, the Board would pay the compensation in court and acquire it any way, said Veerabhadraiah, a farmer.

Veerabhadraiah was forced to part with 30 guntas of land (40 guntas make an acre). He got Rs 7 lakh this July, but the money reached him only after he paid Rs 15,000 as ‘commission’ to officials and Rs 6,000 to the village panchayat.

Madavara villagers were told that their lands were acquired to construct the peripheral road for the infrastructure corridor project. The project includes a six-lane express highway, a peripheral road, a link road, interchanges and five townships. What the villagers did not know was that only 18.21 acres was required in Madavara for the road. In many cases, the land sought in the name of the project was nowhere near the proposed road. They, in fact, fell in the green belt, marked out in the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) of the Bangalore Development Authority. Madavara is also part of the catchment area for Thippagondanahalli reservoir, a drinking water source outside Bangalore.

The villagers came to know that they had been taken for a ride only in October 2003 when a private company—Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association (IMTMA)—started fencing 38 acres in Madavara. The KIADB, which acquired the villagers’ lands had passed it on to the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Limited (NICEL), a private consortium which is executing the infrastructure corridor project. NICEL, in turn, sold the land to IMTMA on November 13, 2003. Three acres of Nagabhushan’s areca plantation was part of the 38 acres sold to IMTMA.

The sale deed shows that NICEL sold the land to IMTMA at Rs 10 lakh an acre. But informed sources maintain that they have collected an additional Rs 26 lakh an acre as ‘service charges’. This is more likely to be true because the value of land in Madavara, Srikantapura and Madanayakanahalli areas is between Rs 30 and Rs 40 lakh an acre. NICEL also got stamp duty waivers in both the transactions: when the Board transferred the land to it and later when it sold the land to the IMTMA.

That NICEL was engaged in real estate business is beyond doubt. Its director, Shivkumar Kheny, in a letter (Ref: NICE/06/03) dated June 19, 2002, offered land to LIC HFL Care Homes at the Mysore Road interchange at a "most competitive price of Rs 27.50 lakh per acre". This land was acquired from farmers at Rs 7 lakh an acre. It is another matter that LIC HFL Care Homes did not accept the offer.

Industrialist H.V. Vijayaraghavan, whose 13 acres in Gottigere village was notified, says the peripheral road was deviated to benefit some influential people.

Madavara is only the tip of the iceberg. In the name of constructing the peripheral and link roads for the infrastructure project, the KIADB has acquired 7,035.38 acres in Bangalore North and Bangalore South taluks whereas the requirement is only 946.24 acres.

However, not everyone, whose lands were notified initially, is in danger of losing them. Bribe-hungry politicians and officials have fixed rates for getting lands denotified, said land-owners. When industrialist H.V. Vijayaraghavan’s 13 acres in Gottigere village in Bangalore South taluk was notified on January 29, 2003, he thought it was a mistake. "I bought the land in 1991 and converted it for residential purposes in 1995. The CDP clearly showed that the land was not on the peripheral road," he said. The "mistake" apparently was to favour certain influential people who stood to benefit if the peripheral road’s alignment was changed.

Vijayaraghavan approached the then Industries Minister R.V. Deshpande to get his land’s survey numbers dropped from the notification. Deshpande issued an order dated October 21, 2003, denotifying Vijayaraghavan’s land. However, the land was mysteriously included again on December 23, 2003.

While Vijayaraghavan is fighting his battle in court, several other land owners have managed to get their lands denotified through the minister’s orders. Records reveal that 30 land owners holding 1,181 acres got their lands freed from acquisition proceedings. Documents also reveal that Deshpande himself ordered the deletions in several cases. He wrote: "They contend that the lands are in the residential zone of the CDP and that they have invested huge amount for development. These lands are far from the proposed alignment of the project. The project in no way will be affected if these lands are deleted."

On November 13, K.L. Negi, principal secretary, PWD, in a letter to Subhir Singh, secretary to commerce and industries department, expressed concern about denotification of some land. He wrote: "Many writ petitions have been filed in the High Court of Karnataka challenging the acquisition of some lands for the project. These cases have been heard by the High Court during September and October 2003. During the course of these hearings, a submission was made by the KIADB that in the acquisition of the lands there has been no discrimination or any denotification to favour any influential person. In this context, the denotification of 18 acres 4 guntas of land required for the project amounts to deliberate discrimination.... There is every possibility of the High Court holding the KIADB and the government in contempt, besides treating the entire land acquisition process as discrimina-tory and therefore null and void".

Negi added that there were ‘defects’ in the notification in the case of 65 per cent of the lands. "This is certainly not creditable to the government," he concluded.

With former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda demanding a CBI probe into the issue, the Congress-JD(S) coalition is under strain. While Gowda’s prime target is former chief minister S.M. Krishna, the Framework Agreement (FWA) between NICEL and the Karnataka government (April 3, 1997) shows that the J.H. Patel government was equally responsible for this land scam.

The FWA mentions "real estate for commercial purposes" as one of the project’s objectives. Krishna has levelled charges that Gowda himself had been involved in irrigation and infrastructure scams running to crores of rupees during the Janata Dal regime.

The present controversy may result in political victories for some leaders. NICEL may be happy even if the project winds up (because the FWA says land will not be returned). The bureaucrats will continue to rule over their babudoms. The losers, as always, will be the common people.

Corridor of controversy

u The Rs 2,000-crore infrastructure corridor project had originally earmarked 20,193 acres of land from Bangalore to Mysore. The 111-km expressway required 6,999 acres and five townships at Bidadi, Ramanagaram, Chennapatna, Mandya and Srirangapatnam required 13,194 acres.

u The Framework Agreement between NICEL and the Karnataka government on April 3, 1997 was signed—on behalf of the government—by C.R. Ramesh, secretary, PWD. Ramesh joined NICEL as project director soon after his retirement. At least half a dozen high-ranking bureaucrats who were associated with the FWA are now employed with NICEL.

u Even in documents dated 1999, NICEL claimed to be a consortium comprising Kalyani Group, Pune, SAB Engineering of Pennsylvania and Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (VHB) of Boston. VHB’s senior vice-president Richard Hanger stated on record that VHB had no role to play in the project and that they were engaged by NICEL only to prepare a preliminary plan.

u The Karnataka government has permitted NICEL to draw 2 tmc feet of water a year from the Cauvery. While the Cauvery water dispute continues, it is unclear how the government could allow this.