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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | The expressway mire

The expressway mire

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published Published on Nov 7, 2012   modified Modified on Nov 7, 2012
-The Business Standard

Three former Karnataka CMs face Lok Ayukta probe 

The investigation ordered by the Lok Ayukta court in Karnataka into the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) project, which has the mandate to build the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC), consisting of an expressway and five townships, is significant for two reasons. One, despite being headless for some time, the Karnataka Lok Ayukta is not a toothless organisation; it played a key role in B S Yeddyurappa losing his chief ministership. The full investigation now ordered is based on the preliminary investigation initiated by the assertive Santosh Hegde. Two, among those to be investigated are three former chief ministers of Karnataka of different parties: H D Deve Gowda, S M Krishna and B S Yeddyurappa. This is likely to be a long-drawn-out affair, and the final denouement cannot be anticipated. But going by the current mood in the country over governance issues and the tenacity of private complainants (this investigation originated from an initiative by an activist, T J Abraham) in the state, the seeds of something that can come to shake established reputations may have been sown.

The BMIC project has always been controversial; it has endured a long and intensive scrutiny by the courts. A key source of controversy and irony is that the memorandum of understanding for the project was signed by, among others, Mr Deve Gowda in 1995 when he was chief minister of the state — but he has thereafter been opposing the project tooth and nail. The present complaint avers that the project agreement is riddled with inconsistencies. Hence it is unsurprising that the promoters, NICE, have been able to get considerable support from the courts against the state government based on an agreement in which they have covered their interests well. Despite this, Mr Deve Gowda last year called for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the deal, claiming that its implications were as big as those of the 2G spectrum scandal. The complainant has argued that the project has degenerated into a land scam, with NICE raising its land requirement to allow more real-estate development in the periphery of Bangalore.

As the project has dragged on, land prices have shot up; farmers whose land was to be acquired have now raised their demands to astronomical levels. Oddly, an expressway to link the two important cities was conceived even as doubling the railway link between the two cities has faced troubles. Surely a high-speed rail link should have been uppermost on the state government’s agenda. Besides, in the meantime, the state highway linking the two cities has been totally re-engineered into a four-lane expressway, thus raising the question as to whether yet another expressway is any longer necessary. However, it may become very costly for the state to cancel the project — not least because, under the problematic agreement, that decision may require it to pay a steep compensation.

The Business Standard, 7 November, 2012, http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/the-expressway-mire/491870/


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