H.D. Kumaraswamy Urges Motorists Not to Pay NICE Road Toll, Gives Karnataka Government Two Weeks to Stop Collection
Bengaluru, August 8: Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Saturday urged motorists not to pay toll on NICE Road and demanded that the Karnataka government immediately stop toll collection and take over the Bengaluru-Mysuru Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project, citing recent observations by the Karnataka High Court on alleged irregularities in the project.
Addressing a press conference at the JD(S) office, J.P. Bhavan, in Bengaluru, Kumaraswamy gave the State Government two weeks to stop toll collection and warned that the JD(S) would launch an agitation if it failed to act within the stipulated period.
Kumaraswamy referred to a July 29 judgment of a Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court concerning alleged irregularities in the NICE project. According to him, the High Court observed that the BMIC project “appears to be one of the biggest scams in the State” and said the matter was fit for an independent investigation by a team of experts into allegations of fraud and other offences, along with a forensic audit of the project accounts.
He said the observations were serious enough for the State Government to intervene immediately. “The State Government must wake up to the serious observations made by the High Court regarding the NICE project. The Court has pointed to serious irregularities in the implementation of the project and has questioned the manner in which toll is being collected from motorists. In light of these observations, NICE must immediately stop collecting toll,” Kumaraswamy said.
Appealing directly to motorists, he said they should not pay toll on NICE Road from Saturday. He called on the public to oppose the collection and said people should be aware of the High Court judgment concerning the project.
Kumaraswamy said the State Government should itself stop the toll collection and warned that if it failed to intervene, the public would have to take up the issue. He said he had also requested leaders of the opposition parties to raise the matter in the Legislature.
Giving the government a deadline, Kumaraswamy said the JD(S) would begin an agitation to stop toll collection if no decision was taken. While he spoke of a two-week deadline during the press conference, he also said he would write to the State Government, wait for about a week and then decide the next course of action.
Kumaraswamy argued that the High Court’s observations provided sufficient grounds for the government to take over the entire NICE project. He alleged that NICE had failed to adhere to the Framework Agreement governing the project and questioned why the government required any further justification to intervene.
He alleged that large tracts of land had been acquired and accumulated in the name of the project and claimed that more than 20,000 acres had become part of a land bank, adversely affecting farmers. He alleged that thousands of farmers had lost their land and livelihoods while powerful interests benefited from land acquired for the project.
Kumaraswamy also alleged that the company had not complied with required norms in toll collection. Referring to submissions made in court, he claimed that the State Government itself had stated that NICE had revised toll rates on several occasions without obtaining prior approval.
He further alleged that land had been acquired in the name of the NICE project for purposes beyond the project’s original scope and said farmers had not received justice. He claimed that around 550 acres of additional land had been handed over to NICE even as the company maintained that it had not been provided all the land required for the project.
Kumaraswamy also raised questions over a No Objection Certificate allegedly issued by NICE to Shobha Developers for a project near the NICE Junction at Hosakerehalli in Bengaluru.
“Whose land is this? Does NICE
About the Author
