Legal team appointed as litigations on BMIC project mount

Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara on Wednesday said that the government had appointed a strong legal team to address the mounting disputes related to the Bengaluru-Mysuru Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the cabinet sub-committee at Vidhana Soudha, Parameshwara said more than 300 litigations were pending, 100 of them in the High Court. “We have resolved around 80 cases at the government level,” he added, highlighting the ongoing efforts to ease the deadlock.

He underlined that the government was actively trying to resolve the issues, but acknowledged the challenges.

“The project is involved in a lot of litigation. Therefore, getting a solution to this project is not easy,” he said.

The cabinet sub-committee, comprising seven members and headed by Parameshwara, was formed to review the progress of the long-pending project, being executed by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE). During its review, the committee identified several flaws in the project’s implementation.

He said that while a framework agreement was signed to ensure transparent execution, it had been violated on multiple fronts. “Be it land acquisition, changes in forming townships, concession agreement or toll agreement —violations have occurred,” he stated.

The minister clarified that resolving these issues cannot be achieved in a short period.

Addressing concerns regarding compensation to farmers, he said, “The framework agreement does not include a commitment that sites would be given to farmers in lieu of compensation. This was done outside the framework agreement”. However, he added that NICE had agreed to this arrangement and the government was currently examining the matter.