Bangalore: Farmers dug up parts of the Bangalore-Mysore expressway on Saturday. The attack came even as the fate of the road is yet to be decided by the state government.
The Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project, being built by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise has seen a lot of hurdles in the past. It has seen 315 court cases so far, and more trouble is brewing with the government planning a new law to take over the private project.
"What's happening depends on the political party. When the Congress came to power, they said they wouldn't support the project. Now when JD(S) is back to power, they are blaming the Congress," says Managing Director, Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise, Ashok Kheny.
One stretch of the BMIC will be thrown open on June 16. This stretch will cut short a 70-km ride to a nine-km one.
Meanwhile, the ruling JD(S) says private parties are out to make money from the project.
"Bangalore requires such infrastructure projects. But government cannot spend so much money. There aren't adequate funds. Any mega project requires thousands of crores," says urban planning expert, Prof M N Sreehari.
On June 19, the legislature is likely to discuss a new bill that will take over private projects like BMIC.
But, it remains to be seen whether the law itself will be valid with retrospective effect for a project that was cleared nearly ten years ago.
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