Sign of thaw? Mysore highway builders get land offer from PWD

Sign of thaw? Mysore highway builders get land offer from PWD
The Indian Express

BANGALORE, JUNE 17:Sending confusing signals on the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Project, the Karnataka PWD department has written to the private implementers of the project, Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise, that it is taking steps to hand over land required for the first phase peripheral road, link roads, and interchanges.


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The letter from PWD principal secretary P B Mahishi is confusing because one of the ruling coalition partners, the Janata Dal (S), is pushing for a takeover of the project, and the other partner, the BJP, is supporting limited takeover of land allegedly allotted in excess of project requirement.

The letter says that it will, as directed by the Supreme Court and Karnataka High Court, base its decision on handing over land to NICE on a 1998 high court judgment.

The PWD principal secretary has told NICE that it will allot only 6,999 acres for the main expressway and its peripheral link roads. His letter says: ‘‘As per the figures noted in para 51 of the judgment in Somashekhar Reddy’s case the state is taking emergent steps to make available a total of 2,193 acres for construction of peripheral road and seven interchanges, and 278 acres for construction of the link road and one interchange.”

The argument of the state government is that nearly 2,450 acres in excess of what is required (2,193 acres) for the peripheral road has already been acquired for the company.

The government argues that the excess land issue has not been settled in the courts. NICE says the Supreme Court and the High Court settled the excess land issue by upholding the framework agreement and annulling a 2004 government committee set up to look at the extent of excess land.

Responding to the government note, officials of NICE said the letter was merely a ploy to prevent contempt of court proceedings against the government and that the government is yet to handover nearly 900 acres needed to complete a peripheral road of the BMICP.