Drag Kheny to court: Gowda tells CM

Bangalore: Janata Dal (S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda on Saturday urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to take over Bangalore- Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project besides demanding the state government to file a case against Managing Director of NICE, Ashok Kheny.

Addressing media persons here, Gowda said he has written to Siddaramaiah requesting him to take over the project as Ashok Kheny had allegedly encroached upon farmers land.

Gowda said the clauses of recent le­gislation on land acquisition should be invoked to register a case against Kheny.

“NICE has not carried out the project as per the original frame work ag­reement, and it was ob­served by the Supreme Court, High Court and all government agencies.

“The company has not paid compensation to farmers for la­nd acquired for the project”, charged Go­wda. Gowda recalled that when Siddaramaiah was in JD(S), he had assured people that land grabbers would be sent to jail if the JD(S) was voted to power in 2004.

“Now, it is an opportunity for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to fulfill the promise made by him a few years ago,” Gowda added. 

The former Prime Minister also urged the state government to protect the government and farmers’ land which have been encroached upon by certain bigwigs in and around Bangalore.