Bengaluru: The Karnataka cabinet Friday authorised chief minister Siddaramaiah to constitute a cabinet sub-committee to examine reports and make recommendations whether the state govt should take control of the controversial Bengaluru–Mysuru Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP), promoted by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE).
“The govt will take a call based on the panel’s recommendations,” said law and parliamentary affairs minister HK Patil after the cabinet meeting.
A 392-page report submitted in Dec 2016 by a legislature committee headed by TB Jayachandra had indicted NICE for multiple violations of the framework agreement (FWA), including excess land acquisition, toll collection without constructing a concrete road, and illegal mining. Jayachandra, now Karnataka’s special representative in Delhi, urged the Congress govt to implement the report’s recommendations and “provide justice to farmers who had lost their agriculture land for the NICE Road project.”
“The Siddaramaiah-led government has the responsibility of implementing the report and take over the project in the interest of the state exchequer, and the development of Bengaluru,” Jayachandra said.
Highlighting the limited options available to the govt, the report also added, “The matter should go back to the state cabinet. Ultimately, the cabinet has to make a decision.”
The House panel had recommended a probe by national agencies like CBI, ED and CVC into alleged large-scale irregularities. It had proposed withdrawing 11,060 acres of land (including 7,532 acres of private land and 3,528 acres of govt land), halting toll collection, and recovering ₹242 crore in royalty for alleged illegal mining.
Former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, along with JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda, has consistently raised concerns about the project. Kumaraswamy accused “the minister championing the peripheral ring road project” of colluding with NICE, without naming deputy CM DK Shivakumar. He had alleged the minister “had taken over land of poor farmers notified for the project”.
During the previous BJP regime, Gowda had written to then CM Basavaraj Bommai, urging action against NICE for violating Supreme Court directives that prohibit residential development on toll road lands. He also demanded an inquiry into officials responsible for paying Rs 14 crore compensation to the company for lands not covered under the FWA but acquired for the Metro project.