Union minister H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday intensified his attack on Karnataka chief minister D K Shivakumar over the long-running Bengaluru-Mysuru Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC), alleging that the original project framework was subsequently altered to expand the land requirement for the road and facilitate the interests of private parties.
“The question is not who signed the first MoU. “People keep saying, ‘Deve Gowda signed it, Deve Gowda started it. Yes, Deve Gowda signed the MoU.
He questioned whether modifications to the Cabinet-approved Framework Agreement could have been made without fresh Cabinet approval. The Union minister also flagged the Outline Development Plan (ODP) prepared in the early 2000s, alleging that it substantially deviated from the original framework. “The decision I took was very clear: follow the Framework Agreement.
The BMIC is a planned 111-kilometre expressway project in Karnataka and as per Kumaraswamy, the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the project was signed in 1995. He said that in 1997, a Framework Agreement was signed giving 20,193 acres of land for the corridor. But that does not mean every subsequent decision taken 10 years later can be attributed to him,” Kumaraswamy said. Kumaraswamy said the project subsequently underwent several changes, including after NICE entered into an agreement with the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board in 1998. He said the land earmarked for the toll road increased from 6,999 acres under the original agreement to 9,468.86 acres under the revised plan. Referring to a 2007 Cabinet decision taken during his tenure as chief minister, Kumaraswamy said he had restricted NICE to the 20,193 acres provided for under the original Framework Agreement.
The question is how the project was subsequently changed and who authorised those changes,” Kumaraswamy said, alleging that the project originally began with an agreement involving VHB, the Kalyani Group and SA Engineering and Construction, before NICE (Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Limited) subsequently entered the picture. That is the question I am asking,” he said. Do not take even an inch of land beyond what was approved,” he said.
“If the earlier Framework Agreement was approved by the Cabinet, how can you alter it without going back to the Cabinet?
