Land losers to earn windfall from Mysore expressway

The Karnataka government on Thursday decided to raise the compensation amo-unt for the land losers in the three villages near Bangalore for the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project.

Yielding to farmers’ demand, the state cabinet has approved the rise in compensation for the 1,916 acres land in the three villages acquired by the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Ltd (NICE), which is implementing the expressway project.

The land in Gonipura, Thippooru and Shigehalli on the city outskirts near Kengeri in Bangalore south taluk was acquired in 1998 by NICE, which is executing the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project at the rate of Rs 1.5 lakh per acre. Now, as per the report of the Bangalore Urban Deputy Commissioner on land compensation fixation, the government has approved a special rate of Rs 40 lakh and Rs 41 lakh per acre in three villages.

The state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa approved compensation of Rs 41 lakh per acre for farmers of Gonipura and Thippooru whose land had been acquired. Those in Shigehalli would get Rs 40 lakh per acre, to be paid by NICE. In addition, farmers who sold less than one acre would get a 30x40 square feet site and those above that 40x60 square feet site, said Law Minister S Suresh Kumar.

The cabinet also appro-ved the development of 15,000 kms of main roads at a cost of Rs 13,363 crore in the next two years. In this, Karnat-aka’s share is around Rs 8,000 crore and the remaining would come from the Union government, Kumar told reporters.

District-to-district, distr-ict-to-taluk and taluk-to-taluk roads would be given prio-rity for development, widening, strengthening and upgrade of national highway, state highway and rural roads, he said.

Of these, toll would be imposed on 1,428 kms of roads. Karnataka would raise Rs 2,400 crore from private sources, while the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd, which would execute the project, and would generate funds of Rs 2,000 crore, Kumar said.

He said an empowered committee had been formed under the chairmanship of chief secretary to identify the roads, works to be taken up and monitor the progress every month. The cabinet also accorded administrative sanction for development of the 27-km Sandur-Hospet road at a cost of Rs 96 crore, and 46.65 km Kudligi-Sandur-Toranagal road — both in Bellary region — at a cost of Rs 140 crore. Toll would be imposed on these roads, he added.