Drawing Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa's attention to the terms under which a private construction company was building the 165-km-long Yamuna Expressway between Noida and Agra by using minimum land, the former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda on Sunday revived his demand for cancelling the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project awarded to the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE).
Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Gowda said the Yamuna Expressway Infrastructure Corridor project envisaged not only a six-lane concrete expressway, but also five townships. “But, Yamuna Expressway townships aggregate to 6,217 acres whereas NIC is getting more than double — 13,194 acres. NICE gets land at an average of Rs.2 lakh to Rs.5 lakh an acre and the government land at Rs.10 lakh an acre,” Mr. Gowda said. The Yamuna contractor, Jaypee Infra Tech, in contrast, was paying an average price of Rs.26 lakh an acre.
Mr. Gowda said the contracting firm, which started work about two to three years ago, is scheduled to complete the expressway by 2011, two years ahead of the targeted completion in 2013.
“Revive global bids”
The JD (S) leader said Mr. Yeddyurappa should cancel the contract awarded to NICE, which is demanding thousands of acres of excess land in Bangalore, and instead revive the global tenders floated by the Kumaraswamy government.
“A private company had come forward to execute BMIC by laying a concrete expressway against the tar road being laid by NICE, build a 17-km-long monorail between Electronic City and Silk Board junction and forego the 2,300 acres of excess land, besides paying a penalty for delay in the execution of the project,” he said.
‘Disrespect' to apex court
Mr. Gowda also accused the State government of disrespecting the January 11, 2010, Supreme Court directive to hold a high-level committee meeting in six weeks by inviting interested parties to settle the BMIC dispute and submit a report in 10 weeks.
“The State government has not convened the second meeting of the high-level committee even after 15 weeks,” he alleged.
Mr. Gowda said the Advocate-General had favoured the holding of the empowered committee meeting before the high-level committee meeting. But, the agenda of the empowered committee meeting made it clear that 550 acres had been handed over in excess for the peripheral road. “Since the agenda exposes the fraud and excess acquisition of land for the peripheral road, the 14th meeting of empowered committee has been cancelled,” he claimed.
