BMIC: notice issued to Chief Secretary, others

BMIC: notice issued to Chief Secretary, others

Ravi Sharma

They have to appear in court on June 4

# Petitioners say High Court orders have been disobeyed
# Also, land has been acquired far in excess of requirement

Bangalore: Acting on a contempt petition, the Karnataka High Court has ordered issue of notice to 25 individuals, including Chief Secretary P.B. Mahishi, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board Chairman H.C. Sharath Chandra, leading industrialist Baba Sahib Kalyani and directors of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), promoters of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project.

The respondents have been directed by the court to appear before it on June 4 either in person or represented by an advocate.

The petitioners V. Nagaraja, State coordinator of the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti, and Arpana, a citizens' service forum, have contented that the promoters of NICE and the State authorities "wilfully and deliberately" disobeyed the court's orders (of September 1998 and May 2005) pertaining to the implementation of the BMIC project. The petitioners have alleged that the project is not being implemented as was "originally conceived" in the Framework Agreement signed between the State and the project's promoters.

They have said that despite the court's directions there have been deviations in the project's alignment, land has been acquired far in excess of what was originally conceived and land in three villages (Basavanapura, Madanayakanahalli and Thodada Guddadahalli) has been erroneously listed for acquisition.

They have also contended that NICE is attempting to sell/pledge land where they have no power to do so, like at the interchanges. Even in the townships, where they can sell land, they are trying to do so in excess of the permissible 45 per cent.