Plan To Scrap BMIC Authority To Save VIPs’ Lands?

Govt caught in its own web
Plan To Scrap BMIC Authority To Save VIPs’ Lands?
The Times of India

Kethiganahalli (Bangalore Rural): Has the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Area Planning Authority (BMICAPA) become a Frankenstein’s monster for the JD(S)-BJP government? It appears so. With CM H D Kumaraswamy’s 46-acre farm coming under BMICAPA’s purview and the threat of its acquisition for the BMIC project looming large, a move is on to scrap the authority.

Kumaraswamy’s farm is just 4 km (2 km according to NICE sources) from the BMIC expressway and 1 km from the proposed second township. “Doing away with the Authority is a vital component of the proposed legislation on BMIC,’’ sources said.

A total of 193 villages, including Kethiganahalli in Bidadi hobli where Kumaraswamy owns 46 acres of land, were brought under the ambit of the Authority.
Conceived in Nov. 2001 to ensure planned growth around the BMIC project, the Authority has turned out to be an obstacle for many politicians whose lands dot the Bangalore-Mysore highway. Reason: A deadly mix of politics and economics. A year ago, Kumaraswamy’s father H D Deve Gowda asked the then CM N Dharam Singh to re-form the Authority as it was being headed by his political rival D K Shiva Kumar.

NICE, which is coming up with its second township near Kethiganahalli, might stake claim for land in and around the village, the locals fear. The same predicament is that of Kumaraswamy and of his relatives, one of whom owns over 100 acres in the vicinity.

“It’s in this backdrop that the government is trying to dismantle the Authority. This way, political bosses will also get space to operate in the booming real-estate market,’’ sources said. When contacted, a NICE representative said: “These 193 villages were brought under the Authority’s purview keeping in mind the future needs of the project. It cannot be scrapped.’’

However, Authority officials have maintained that the CM’s property has got nothing to do with the expressway. KIADB special deputy commissioner T C Krishnaswamy also said he was not aware of the move to wind up the Authority. “We’ve made it very clear that Kethiganahalli will not be allowed to be taken by NICE as it is not on the acquisition list,’’ he said.