Karnataka says no to e-way opening

CORRIDOR OF UNCERTAINTY - Karnataka says no to e-way opening

The Hindustan Times


CONFRONTATION BETWEEN the Karnataka government and the NICE consortium took an ugly turn on Thursday with the government putting its foot down against the soft launch of the Bangalore-Mysore expressway scheduled for Friday.

In an eleventh hour move, the public works department sent a notice to Ashok Kheny, managing director, NICE, not to go ahead with the proposed inauguration of the 9 km stretch of the highway on June 16.

The public works department said the consortium ought not to go ahead with the function citing violation of the framework agreement as well as the fact that it (the department) had not carried out a quality control check. Kheny said that the consortium would not call off the event because, he said, the company had no plan to collect toll from the vehicles for use of the 9 km of expressway.

Hours before this late night development, chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had volunteered to face a judicial probe on charges that his property was part of the land allotted for the Rs 2,850 crore Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) as well as that he had misrepresented facts in his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission prior to polls to the legislative assembly in 2004.

As per their announced plan, the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) consortium, the promoters, will throw open a part of the expressway on Friday, a major milestone since the mega buck venture's launch in 1995.

The invitation features no political bigwig or corporate honcho. The card simply reads "Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Limited invites you for the soft opening of the nine kilometre stretch between Mysore Road and Kanakapura Road..."

Ashok Kheny, managing director, NICE, said the opening ceremony would be dedicated to people who had given up their land to make way for the project. He said invitations have been sent to JD (S) leader H.D. Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy. However, the CM's office denied receiving any invitation.

The soft launch will either be in the hands of a toddler or a 90year-old woman who has given her land for the project. The promoters, however, kept all details of the event under wraps.

Said the CM: "The opposition cannot cow me down. I would rather take up the challenge. I have decided to write to chief justice of the Karnataka High Court, to depute a sitting high court judge to investigate two matters: first to look into the charges of Kumaraswamy filing a false affidavit before the Election Commission and second, the judicial commission will investigate whether or not my land falls within the jurisdiction of the land allotted to Bangalore Mysore Expressway project." NICE consortium chief has said the inauguration would not be called off despite PWD directive Invitation for the event does not feature name of any politician, including the CM Earlier, the CM said he would write to the chief justice to probe charges against him