Former PM to current PM: PPP not so ‘NICE’ for India
Gowda writes to Modi on state’s experience with NICE project
Bengaluru: Cautioning the BJP led NDA government against rushing into public-private partnerships with foreign investors for development of the country, former prime minister and Janata Dal(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi to learn from the state’s experience with the controversial Bengaluru-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project conecting the two cities.
In a letter to Mr Modi, which he released to the media here, Mr Gowda said that while the Union government was amending land acquisition rules through ordinances for speedy implementation of projects with foreign funding, it should take care to ensure that such acquisition did not take the farmers and the government for a ride.
He also suggested the Prime Minister take a look at other projects like the Kempegowda International Airport to see what extent of land was promised to it in the MoU and what was actually given to it later.
“There have been projects like Cogentrix and Nagarjuna as well in the state. After what happened to them , the government needs to be very careful to see farmers do not suffer,” he insisted.