BJP, JD(S) to jointly fight against ‘irregularities’ in Bangalore-Mysore Infra Corridor project

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Opposition parties BJP and JD(S) in Karnataka on Friday jointly announced their fight against alleged irregularities in the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project promoted by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE).

The announcement was made by former chief ministers Basavaraj Bommai of BJP and H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S) in a joint press conference, where they urged the Congress government to take over the NICE project and order a judicial inquiry.

NICE has been accused of violating the “framework agreement” with the government while implementing the BMIC project.

“The company acquired 13,000 acres of excess land, and as per the court it has to be taken over by the government,” Bommai said.

Noting that the Supreme Court has said that the government has powers to initiate action regarding excess land, they wanted the Congress government to make its stand clear on the issue. On his part, Kumaraswamy alleged that a toll amounting to Rs 1,325 crore has been collected illegally.

Reacting to this, Deputy CM D K Shivakumar said the NICE project was brought in when JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda was CM (1994-96).