Bengaluru: Panel to monitor NICE affairs

Bengaluru: Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister T.B. Jayachandra on Monday said the state government would soon constitute a monitoring committee to oversee the activities of NICE company, which built Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway, to make sure it does not indulge in illegal activities in future.

Speaking to reporters here, Mr Jayanchandra observed that Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises(NICE) had implemented the Bengaluru-Mysuru Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC )project over the last 19 years.

"This company (NICE) has violated 16 of the 22 clauses laid down in the Action Plan  Agreement for the project, besides blatantly collecting ‘illegal’ toll amounting to Rs 1,350 crore, since 2008. One of the recommendations of the House panel was that the state government should take over the collection of toll. We are examining all possibilities,” he said.

In response to a question, Mr Jayachandra contended that the project had lost its purpose  and the losers  were the thousands of people who gave up their land for it. “A Monitoring Committee is the need of the hour as the House panel had also recommended denotifying over 11,600 acres from the acquisition  process on the basis of its assessment of  NICE's land requirement through a joint survey. In its view the company already has 605 acres more than it  needs," the minister added.

He said during different phases of the BMIC project, many agreements were signed, as  a result, the state government has also entered into hundreds of legal battles with the company in various courts, therefore, it had become all the more pertinent for the government to adopt a holistic approach towards the issue.

Market intervention
He said the government was contemplating procuring tur dal, arecanut, copra (dry coconut) and onions from growers under various market intervention programmes in the state.

“Markets have been experiencing volatile conditions due to various factors connected with the economic slowdown. For instance, tur dal prices have come down from Rs 5,050 to Rs 2,800-3,900 per quintal, similarly prices of copra, arecanut  and onions too are crashing,” he said.

He said the government had procured Rs 100 crore worth onions in the last couple of months but was yet to take steps to protect copra, tur dal and arecanut growers by procuring their produce.