K'taka CM: Twice bitten but never shy

K'taka CM: Twice bitten but never shy
CNN-IBN

Bangalore: Construction work in on for the country's first private road project connecting Bangalore and Mysore. The highway will be open for public use in the next six months.

But another twist to this controversial project is just round the corner.

The Karnataka government now wants to take over this Rs 2,250 crore project in open defiance of a Supreme Court order.

“It's being done for the development of the state,” says Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

The Chief Minister plans to table the bill in the Assembly in the next session.

His coalition partners however, are worried about taking on the Supreme Court.

But for now, the issue is being kept under wraps.

“It has not come up before us yet, so there's nothing,” said BJP leader and Medical Education Minister, Dr V S Acharya.

The government contends that the expressway builder, Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise, is asking for 2,400 acre of excess land that it doesn't need.

That is where the proposed Karnataka Infrastructure Development and Land Reforms Bill comes into the picture.

The bill would empower the government to take over private projects that need more than 2,000 acre of land.

The situation has arisen despite the Karnataka High Court and the Supreme Court penalising Kumaraswamy for opposing the project.