How nicely Kheny moved the goal-post for land

How nicely Kheny moved the goal-post for land
Deccan Herald

The State government appears to have tied itself in knots over the Bangalore-Mysore expressway project, even as it is locked in a fierce battle with Mr Ashok Kheny, the promoter of the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor....

The State government appears to have tied itself in knots over the Bangalore-Mysore expressway project, even as it is locked in a fierce battle with Mr Ashok Kheny, the promoter of the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) over his alleged demand for “excess land” which is supposedly worth over Rs 25,000 crore by a recent estimate.

While NICE maintains that it has not sought “an inch of additional land” and whatever has been asked for is only for the expressway and five townships which are part of the project, the government points to its expert committee report which identified 2,450 acres as the excess land being demanded by the promoter.

From the records available with Deccan Herald, it is clear that since the project was first mooted in 1995, Mr Kheny has consistantly moved the goal-post regarding land requirement and obtained the required consent from whichever government was in power over the last one decade. The records reveal that the controversy over “excess land” mainly related to the land acquired for the formation of 41 km of peripheral road, 9.1 km of link road, 10 interchanges, service roads, service areas and 12 km stretch of expressway.

The documents show that the extent of land required for the peripheral, link, interchanges, service roads has changed at various stages and land requirement was increased at differrent stages.

The requirement of land was first mentioned in the Technical Report submitted to the Government by the consortium – comprising VHB and SAB Engineering, US and Kalyani Group – in August 1995.

The Technical Report estimated the requirement for the road network (including expressway, peripheral road, link road, service area, interchanges) as 5,119 acres. But, land requirement was increased to 5,205 acres by Mr Kheny in his letter to then chief minister Mr Deve Gowda on February 2, 1996 stating that 5,205 acres of land was required. However, when the Frame Work Agreement (FWA) was signed on April 3,1997, the land requirement for road network was shown as 6,999 acres.

The FWA does not contain any break-up of land usage for expressway, peripheral, link and service roads, interchanges etc as mentioned in the Tehcnical Report. But the NICE, in an affidavit before the Karnataka High Court in 1998, gave the break-up for expressway, peripheral and link roads. (See Table )

The NICE, citing the judgements of the courts, has been claiming that the ‘theory of excess land has been finally scotched by the High Court and the Supreme Court.” The Government is determined not to transfer the excess land and is contemplating going to court on the issue.

The break-up

Particulars Technical Kheny’s Framework

report request (1997)*

(1995) (1996)

Expressway** 4215.51 4149 4528

Peripheral Road** 756.20 943 2193

Link Road 147.66 113 278

Total 5119.37 5205 6999

*Land requirement in acres

**Expressway includes interchanges, service roads & service areas