After nearly three years of deliberating on the matter, the State government on Monday finally decided to acquire around 4.5 acres of land, for metro projects, that are in possession of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE).
The total worth of the land is around ₹90 crore, but the government will not be paying any compensation to NICE, said Revenue Minister R. Ashok “The land acquisition will start within a week and will be completed within a month or two,” said Mr. Ashok.
The bone of contention that delayed the process was compensation. NICE was ready to hand over the land if it was compensated.
“It is high time we take a tough stand. Since it is government land, no compensation would be paid to NICE. Why should the government pay compensation for its own land,” said the Minister, adding that this pending decision was made keeping in mind “public utility and purpose”.
Metro work on and around four major roads — Hosur Road, Kanakapura Road, Mysuru Road and Tumkuru Road — had been stalled owing to land dispute.
Land acquisition was one of the major hurdles that Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) was facing on these four stretches of Phase II of the Namma Metro project.
The BMRCL has already set 2020 as the deadline for starting operations on the extended lines of Mysuru Road and Kanakapura Road.
“This decision will not only prevent loss to the government but will also help BMRCL meet its deadlines. NICE has been opposing it for years,” he said.
The metro project is on at all the four stretches with the work on Mysuru Road and Kanakapura Road happening quickly. On Hosur Road, NICE land is required to build the metro station.
While initiating the land acquisition a couple of years ago, BMRCL had identified three ‘categories’ of properties that were in NICE’s possession to build pillars or other metro infrastructure.
The first parcel of land had been 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. The third category is land leased by the government to NICE. This January, the government, after consulting the Advocate-General of Karnataka, had given the green signal to acquire the land from NICE. However, there was no clarity on awarding compensation.
