BMICP-related issues to get a hearing finally

BMICP-related issues to get a hearing finally

Krishnaprasad
Bangalore: The State Government has convened a long overdue meeting of the Empowered Committee monitoring the implementation of the BMICP to discuss several crucial issues related to the contentious Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP), including the denotification of excess land acquired for the project.

The 14th meeting of the Empowered Committee is scheduled to be held under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary on August 14.

The meeting assumes significance as several controversial issues are listed on its agenda, including the many allegations relating to the implementation of the controversial project over the last year.

The meeting is being anxiously anticipated by farmers and land owners who have been agitating over the alleged large-scale irregularities in the implementation of the project. Members of the Bhooswadhina Virodhi Vedike, an organisation of farmers who will lose land to the project, have alleged on the basis of documents they secured under the Right to Information Act, that thousands of acres of land were acquired in excess of the project’s requirement and in violation of the Court orders.

Issues
The agenda of the meeting lists four issues: the acquisition of excess land, violations in the approved road alignment, non-submission of detailed designs and drawings by the project implementing company to the State Government, and the demand for higher compensation by land losers.

The meeting has been convened nearly a year after the Chief Secretary admitted before the Supreme Court that excess land was acquired and handed over to Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Ltd. (NICE) which is implementing the project. Violation in approved alignment was acknowledged by the heads of Public Works and Urban Development departments before the court.