Sign of thaw? Mysore highway builders get land offer from PWD

The letter says that it will, as directed by the Supreme Court and Karnataka High Court, base its decision on handing over land to NICE on a 1998 high court judgment.

The PWD principal secretary has told NICE that it will allot only 6,999 acres for the main expressway and its peripheral link roads. His letter says: ‘‘As per the figures noted in para 51 of the judgment in Somashekhar Reddy’s case the state is taking emergent steps to make available a total of 2,193 acres for construction of peripheral road and seven interchanges, and 278 acres for construction of the link road and one interchange.”

The argument of the state government is that nearly 2,450 acres in excess of what is required (2,193 acres) for the peripheral road has already been acquired for the company.

The government argues that the excess land issue has not been settled in the courts. NICE says the Supreme Court and the High Court settled the excess land issue by upholding the framework agreement and annulling a 2004 government committee set up to look at the extent of excess land.

Responding to the government note, officials of NICE said the letter was merely a ploy to prevent contempt of court proceedings against the government and that the government is yet to handover nearly 900 acres needed to complete a peripheral road of the BMICP.

Venkaiah for damage control

NEW DELHI: The BJP leadership has sought time from its Karnataka alliance partner, the Janata Dal (S), on the BMIC issue, and is sending Venkaiah Naidu to Bangalore in a day or two. This follows a meeting between JD (S) chief H D Deve Gowda and BJP chief Rajnath Singh, who said the BJP response would be based on Naidu’s feedback. He said the coalition would survive.