More than a year has elapsed since the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) initiated the process of acquiring land currently in possession of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) for Phase-II of the Namma Metro project, but the hurdles have not been addressed. The bone of contention, say metro officials, is compensation.
According to BMRCL officials, there are three ‘categories’ of properties that are in possession of NICE: the first were acquired by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) for the expressway project and the sale deed was executed in the name of the NICE; the second comprises properties that were notified but compensation was not awarded to the property-owners; and the third is land leased by the government to NICE.
“BMRCL needs close to eight acres for the project. Of this, around five acres had been acquired by KIADB, which paid compensation and transferred the land to NICE through sale deeds. In the case of 2.5 acres, the final notification was issued but no compensation was determined and payment was not done to land-owners. Apart from this, the government had leased 1,170 square metres of land to NICE for 30 years,” said a BMRCL official.
The land is required for a metro project on Tumakuru Road. It comprises 21,330 square metres (5.27 acres) in Madavara village. Another 8,234 sq. metres (2.03 acres) in Beratena Agrahara, Doddathogaru and Konappana Agrahara are needed for the metro elevated corridor on Hosur Road.
“The metro project is on four stretches and work is on full swing on Mysuru Road and Kanakapura Road. On Hosur Road, however, NICE land is required to build a metro station. The delay in acquiring land will have negative implications for the project,” said BMRC officials.
Time is of essence, as the corporation is planning to start operations on the extended metro line at Kanakapura and Mysuru Road by 2019.
“We feel this issue could be resolved only with the intervention of the government,” an official said.
A spokesperson of the NICE said, “The talks are in the final stage. We are ready to give the land. There are some issues about how the identified properties will be acquired and compensation paid, and that needs to be discussed.”
Special Deputy Commissioner of KIADB (the agency which is acquiring land for the metro project) S.N. Balachandra said, “ At present, a joint survey is being undertaken to identify the actual land required for the project, and the final notification is yet to be issued. After that, we will start the process of awarding compensation, and notices will be served to the land-owners concerned. We are hoping to complete this process within five months, or earlier.”
