BMRCL to rent land from NICE to access metro site

BMRCL will rent close to an acre of land from Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) as it requires to temporarily access its construction site. The utility has fixed a monthly rent of Rs 5.75 lakh for the 3,839 sqm of land in consultation with NICE authorities.

Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) officials said the construction of the elevated metro line on Tumakuru Road is delayed without access to NICE land near the BIEC metro station.

“There was no need to acquire the small piece of NICE land on a permanent basis involving the payment of the market price. We had requested a negotiation with NICE authorities at the government level,” he said.

It is also learnt that the BMRCL has deposited a compensation package of Rs 100 crore for acquiring close to four acres of NICE land with the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB), which has been acquiring land for building metro projects. The KIADB is expected to take a final call on releasing the payments after consulting the state government.

Compensation package

“We have started construction work on the NICE land after depositing the compensation package. A major chunk of the NICE land is required on Tumakuru Road and Hosur Road. Since the NICE land was needed on a permanent basis and there was a dispute on the type of compensation, the matter is being pursued at the government level,” a senior BMRCL official in-charge of land acquisition said.

Leo Saldanha, co-ordinator at the Environment Support Group, said the public entity, which acquired land on behalf of a private entity, cannot divert the land other than for the intended purpose.

“The land was acquired from farmers for Rs 5 lakh to Rs 8 lakh per acre for the purpose of building a road. What do the original farmers stand to gain for parting with the land in case it is diverted for building the metro?,” he said.

KIADB Chief Executive Officer N Shivashankara was not available for comments.