A NICE take-off after all the fuss

A NICE take-off after all the fuss
Deccan HErald

Despite a tension-ridden run-up, the inauguration of the first 9-kilometre stretch of the peripheral ring road of the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project went off smoothly on Friday.

Amidst tight police security, and in the absence of VVIPs, the project was given a colourful start, with two senior citizens — 93-year-old Sharadamma and 86-year-old Ramakka who had given up their land for the project — formally inaugurating the road.

Mr Ashok Kheny, Managing Director of BMIC promoter, the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), virtually brushed aside the government’s diktat forbidding him from going ahead with the inauguration, on the grounds that requisite permissions had not been sought.

“They want to check the quality of the road. If I am not bothered about quality, who else will be? This is a laugh. I am not bound by any contract to take permission for inaugurating a people’s project. This is a misrepresentation by the Public Works Department (PWD),” he later told mediapersons. As for the absence of politicians including Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy at the function, Mr Kheny said the project was dedicated to the people of Karnataka, and he would rather have the public attend it than the chief minister. “Elected representatives are themselves chosen by the people. So what is the need for discrimination? All are equal in my eyes,” he said.

‘Not time for debate’

Mr Kheny revealed he would be “too happy to meet the chief minister”, but was not keen on having a public debate on the project as desired by him. “I am not a politician to have public debates. The debate should have been held before finalising the framework agreement,” he said. However, Mr Kheny said he was ready to cooperate with the government and resolve the tangle.

“I will discuss the chief minister’s concerns with him, and clarify that we do not have excess land, nor are we having any partnership deals with any political party. I would also like to tell him about the officials who are trying to mislead the government with wrong facts,” he said.

On the charge levelled against him that he had engaged in real estate business through the project, Mr Kheny denied it. “The land prices have risen in the last 10 years since the project started. Why should I be penalised for it?” he said.

Khenyspeak

*I will be very happy to meet the Chief Minister, but then they (politicians) will say I am trying to buy him.

*Give me the land till Mysore, and I will complete the project by December 2007.

*I must be the world’s worst real estate developer. I have not sold an inch of land meant for the project, while other developers are selling thousands of acres in and around Bangalore.

*I am the only Kannadiga building infrastructure in Karnataka, yet I get no government support.

*The CM should read Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It shows how several murders were committed to cover up one murder.