NICE caught on the wrong foot

NICE caught on the wrong foot

The Hindu

Question mark hangs over Framework Agreement, funding for the project


BANGALORE: Now that the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has withdrawn the conditional consent given to Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) to build the 111-km Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) Project, the ball is in the court of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), and other agencies to take cognisance of it and cancel the environmental clearance granted for the project.

Sources in the ministry told The Hindu that the Centre's clearances were issued contingent upon the no-objection and the consent for establishment (CFE) issued by the KSPCB. NICE's alleged move to alter the alignment of the road was a violation of the Framework Agreement which was binding on both the Government and its agencies as well as NICE. It could well be the turn of NICE now to incur the wrath of the Supreme Court for this alleged transgression, they said.

Snowballing effect

The alignment of the road formed the basis on which the lending institutions extend loans and financial closure was done after ascertaining that the No-Objection Certificate, CFE and all environmental clearances were in order. Since NICE has been accused of deviating from the approved alignment, the financial backing for the original alignment will not stand.

The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) will have to cancel its agreement with NICE since the land over which the alleged altered alignment runs has not been acquired by it and handed over to NICE.

Compensation

Altered alignment means that the project-affected persons as identified in the Framework Agreement as per the approved alignment no longer enjoy that status. The Revenue Department had identified about 1,320 families that would be displaced because of land acquisition along the 111 km (a State Government Order of April 23, 2001 details the plan for rehabilitation of displaced persons). Since the 41-km peripheral road has displaced none of these families, a whole new set of project-affected-persons have been created, who have not been identified.