Karnataka HC directs State govt. to scrap failed BMIC project and come out with a new plan to decongest Bengaluru city

The High Court of Karnataka has directed the State government to scrap the controversial Bangaluru-Mysuru Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project, while noticing that only one km of the total 111-km of the proposed expressway was constructed in the past over 25 years, and none of the five townships, planned way back in 1995 to decongest the city, has seen the light of the day till now.

‘Re-look at project’

“The beautiful and futuristic concept of decogngesting the city as conceived under the Project Technical Report (PTR) of 1995 has been killed at the cost of the citizens and the environment… it would be in the interest of the city, citizens, environment and the future to re-look at the project and take appropriate action for fresh and new project discarding the old one,” the court observed while pointing out that no purpose would be served to keep BMIC project alive when only one km expressway was constructed in 25 years.

A Division Bench, comprising Justice D.K. Singh and Justice Venkatesh Naik T., issued these directions in its January 9 verdict while dismissing a petition, filed in 2010, by a land owner seeking sites as compensation for land acquired for the project even after receiving monetary compensation with consent.

Outdated project

“This is a classic example of the non-commitment to the public planning by the people in power for various reasons, which may be large scale corruption, bureaucratic trapping and the litigation… This project, instead of de-clogging and de-congesting the city by developing five townships on the Bangalore-Mysore corridor has clogged and congested the High Court and other courts,” with over 2,000 cases, the Bench observed.

Though the PTR was prepared in 1995 to contain city’s population at 70 lakh and decongest the city by creating five townships between Bengaluru and Mysuru anticipating that city’s population would cross 85 lakh by 2011, the Bench said the BMIC project had remained only on paper for the past 30 years as only 47 km peripheral roads were built during this year even though the city’s population had now reached 1.4 crore.

‘Sitting on land bank’

Noting that “the project proponents, Nandi Infrastrcture Corridor Enterprises Ltd (NICE) and Nandi Economic Corridors Enterprises (NECEL), are collecting huge tolls by constructing only peripheral roads and toll plazas,” the Bench said that “the project proponents are sitting on a huge land bank, but without its proper usage as the expressway has not yet been constructed and there is no sign of it being constructed in future.

Pointing out that the the government had signed a Frame Work Agreement (FWA) with NICE in 1997 for the project, the Bench said that in fact, both the earlier concept and the contract had got frustrated, requiring a new plan to decongest Bengaluru city.

“…The population of the city is more than 1.4 crore. The snarling traffic and traffic jams are the order of the day. It takes hours to travel a small distance in the city. The infrastructure facilities are crumbling down. The environment is badly affected…. The State government, therefore, must take necessary decision for fresh planning by discarding the FWA of the project at the earliest to ameliorate the living conditions of the city,” the Bench said, hoping that an informed decision would be taken in this regard at the earliest.