PICTURE SPEAK

BRAKE TIME: The Bangalore-Mysore expressway

There is a paradox, however. While on the one hand he was positioning Bangalore as India's city of the future, his government was putting up roadblocks on the 111 km Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP), a private initiative. BMICP has been hanging fire for the past 10 years largely due to the Gowda family, which, even when out of power, had used its influence to slow it down and is refusing to give up its land for the project.

It all boils down to a tussle over land. The Gowda clan says the company is asking for more land than required for the project. Ashok Kheny, managing director of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), the company that won the contract to build the expressway, says he is yet to get the land that is due to him as per court orders. This is when the Kumaraswamy Government, assisted by its coalition partner BJP, hit upon the idea of formulating a Bill to take over the private road project. The Bill is to be tabled on June 19 when the Assembly session begins and will seek cancellation of the 1997 agreement for the project. Though legal experts have warned against going ahead with the Bill, the government seems set to stall the private project.

Kumaraswamy, who owns about 47 acres close to the project site, says he will give up his land if it is required for the road. Gowda, whose party is opposed to the project, says he is only fighting for the farmers who have lost their land without being compensated.

The expressway includes, at the Bangalore end, a 41-km peripheral road that will connect it to NH 4 (Bangalore-Pune) and NH 7 (Bangalore-Hosur). A 9.1-km link road will connect Bangalore city centre to the expressway. The development of five self-sustainable townships has also been planed as other components of the BMICP covering nearly 20,000 acres of land in Bangalore, Mandya and Mysore districts.

With Mysore emerging as a business hub, the tolled private roads linking the two cities will save time and fuel. Kheny estimates that the distance between Bangalore and Mysore on the new road can be covered in under two hours instead of the current four hours, which will save at least Rs 300 crore worth of fuel every year. NICE, which has got favourable orders from the Supreme Court and the Karnataka High Court, says it has no option but to seek legal recourse and knock on the doors of the Union home ministry.

Environmentalists like Leo Saldanha of the Environment Support Group claim that there will be massive displacement of people and abuse of state power in supporting and granting various approvals. "Core issues have been side-stepped. There is no clear account of how thousands of families will be rehabilitated. The land to be acquired is widely irrigated and fertile, supporting the livelihood of over two lakh people. Several environmental clearances have also not been met," says Saldanha.

THE LONG ROAD

February 1995: MoU signed October 1998: Land requirement increased by 3,653 acres August 2002: Centre grants environment clearances December 2003: Court clears expressway, cancels notifications on land for townships February 2004: Gowda claims excess land allotment. Project begins March 2005: State Cabinet accepts report limiting land allotment at 17,809 acres April 2006: SC clears project; soft launch of 9-km stretch

Kheny, on the other hand, claims he has all the clearances for the project and has even employed some of the best government agencies like ISRO and the National Remote Sensing Agency to assist him. "We have the best rehabilitation and resettlement programme," he says.

Even as the controversy over the project continues, a group of farmers from the Hemmigepura village protested against the BMICP saying they needed to be compensated for the loss of their lands. One group even damaged a stretch of the road already constructed in the run-up to its inauguration on June 16.

"We are with NICE as long as they stick to the road and don't ask for excess land. They can even take my land if it is required," says Kumaraswamy. Kheny, on the other hand, retorts, "I am not a politician who is going to be part of a public debate. I just want the land due to us and there is no question of excess land."

For potential road users, caught in the crossfire of private road promoters and a government regime bent on armtwisting the law to suit its needs, the road from Bangalore to Mysore will remain a long and winding one.

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