‘It’s a bigger issue than Nandigram’

‘It’s a bigger issue than Nandigram’
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: The Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project is set to face another roadblock. Joining its opposition ally JD(S), the Congress plans to make it a much larger issue than that of Nandigram in West Bengal, when the legislature session resumes on Monday.
“We are convinced that the project will lead to agitations, much larger in scale than
Nandigram. So we have decided the raise the issue in the House,” Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and V S Ugrappa said on Sunday.
Ugrappa visited Gonipura and K Golhalli villages off Bangalore, where the project is facing stiff resistance from farmers, on Sunday evening.
“Nandigram is the story of farmers of only one village being forcibly asked to hand over land. In this case, farmers of 19 villages will be affected. They have already started agitating against the move and the Congress will oppose it tooth and nail,” Ugrappa said soon after his visit.
He alleged that the Rs 2,250-crore project promoted by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise is not feasible as it entails uprooting of several acres of farmers’ land. Ugrappa also claimed that the project will not lead to development of the state, as touted by the government. “It will rather lead to destruction,” he added.
Substantiating his argument, he said in the primary notification issued in 1999, there was no sign of a township. But on March 21 this year, the final notification issued includes 2,000 acres of land for a township project.
“This was done after land rate shot up from Rs 80,000 to Rs 1.5 to 2 crore,” he alleged.
NICE officials maintained the company has the mandate to deviate from the original alignment decided after the framework agreement, as per the original agreement with the government.