HDK: I’ve land, but not in BMIC path

HDK: I’ve land, but not in BMIC path
Says Will Give Up His 24 Acres If Necessary For The Highway Project
The Times of India

Bangalore: Admitting that he owns land at Kethaganahalli of Bidadi hobli, Ramanagaram taluk, chief minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday contended that this land was not part of the BMIC project and did not have “any connection to it.’’

The Times of India in these columns on Monday had said Kumaraswamy owns 24 acres of land next to the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC), second township (commercial centre), but is not part of the land acquired for the project, per se.

Kumaraswamy, who returned from his UAE trip in the morning, told reporters: “I bought that land in 1983-84, when the BMIC project was not even conceived. This is all wrong information that project promoters NICE are trying to spread against me. If I had known it would cause this kind of controversy, I wouldn’t have bought that land then itself.’’

Kumaraswamy said if the land he owns is necessary for the BMIC, he was willing to give it up on the same terms as those given to poor farmers. “Whatever law is applied to the farmers is applicable to me also. But these kind of allegations against me are all wrong.’’

Recalling similar allegations made when the then Prime MInister H D Deve Gowda sought to shift the then proposed Bangalore international airport from Devanahalli to Bidadi-Ramanagaram area, Kumaraswamy said: “Even then, people said we wanted the airport shifted to Bidadi-Ramanagaram because we owned land there and wanted the benefit. It is left to people to decide who benefited by locating the airport at Devanahalli and how much more useful it would have been, if the airport had come up on the Bangalore-Mysore Road.’’

A challenge
CM Kumaraswamy: I challenge them to an open debate on the project.
NICE managing director Ashok Kheny: I see no need for it. Next, will he want to hold a dogfight to decide the issue? It has been debated in the highest court of law and a decision has been given.
A deadline
NICE on Monday set a deadline of one week for the state government to expedite the BMIC project. In a 28-page letter to chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, NICE managing director Ashok Kheny outlined nine points, including release of land, which had to be addressed by the CM immediately.