Views
expressed in the Dec 2003 letters to CM and ESG Press Release to shelve
the BMIC Project |
1 |
LETTER TO THE EDITOR "Major General S.G.Vombatkere, VSM (Retd) M.E (Struct), PhD (I.I.T), F.I.E (India), C.Eng 475, 7th Main RoadVijayanagar 1st Stage E-mail : [email protected] MYSORE - 570 017 Tel : 0821-2515187 22 December 2003 LETTER TO THE EDITOR (By E-Mail)
How can Mr. Deve Gowda ""see Mr. Krishna's hand"" in the BMIC scam when he was himself signatory to the original MOU as CM? (The Hindu, 22.12.2003). Also, as a consequence of the MOU, the KIADB Act was specially amended to permit use of the land acquired for a purpose even other than that for which it was acquired.
Rather than pointing fingers, it would be well if the anti-BMIC agitators' demand of improving SH-17 to 6-lanes and doubling the rail connection between Bangalore and Mysore, already commenced, is implemented expeditiously and with minimum corruption, and BMIC is given an unceremonious burial. Yours faithfully, Maj Gen S.G. Vombatkere (Retd) |
2 |
"Dear Sir, In the light of the foregoing, I endorse the stand taken by ESG in that the proposing authority needs to make out a more convincing analysis of the project and reshape the project to make it socially and economically viable simultaneously. Roads are basically the first step in the prosperity of India's population-spread over many a terrain as it is. But then, the issue of cost and benefit is more important to determine where to invest public expenditure. True, the Mysore-Bangalore link is also more emotional and nostalgic than any other link in Karnataka, but then, nostalgia and cost-benefit are different aspects. I hope my views are clear by now.
Yours Sincerely |
3 |
"Hon'ble
Chief Minister S.M.Krishna, Government of Karnataka, Vidhan Soudha, Bangalore 560001 You might kindly recall that I had
requested for your visit to Mysore in connection with holding a meeting
with members of MATF when I met you during Navarathri festival in Mysore.
I followed it up with a communication and you were kind enough to respond
immediately. In your reply you had mentioned that you are presently
busy and that you are instructing your OSD to fix a time. We are looking
forward to such a meeting. This specially oppertune because you have
announced that Mysore would be declared as a Heritage City. This is
a most important development for a long time. H.R.Bapu Satyanarayana
|
4 |
I am surprised by your hope that appeals will work! The CM and his team
are just puppets in the hands of contractors and timber merchants.The
ONLY way out is the legal route.
First is to define what is public interest.If the BDA forcibly acquires private land from one person to allot it to another person , is it public interst ? Does the present owner have no rights at all to his property? When the so called ""defence""/public sector land or that of some church etc is to be acquired, it CANNOT be done without negotiation.All this defence land etc was GIVEN to them free of cost for a specific purpose. Let them produce ownership documents to show that they ""OWN"" the land. They are just caretakers and nothing more. The Trinity church has made a commercial complex on land that was GIVEN to it. This land HAS NOT been purchased. But a simple notification to acquire this is not enough.If that is so how come private lands that have actually been purchased can be taken ? Public interest is that which benefits a majority if not all the people. Karnataka has become a permanent drought / famine case in the last four years under the new hitech govt. The one and only one reason for this is the slaughter of trees and addition of concrete. No amount of money or cloud seeding will get us rains. Telling farmers not to grow certain crops will lead to shortage of those crops as also the loss of livelihood to those farmers.It is now well established that the widening of roads, BDA sites/flyovers, new airport etc have resulted in the loss of greenery and addition of concrete which cause increase in temperature / pollution and failure of monsoon. Planting saplings in their place is a laughable joke. What is the survival rate of thes saplings? how long will they take to become trees? It is just like teliing a man ""we will take you away and give a kid to your family in your place""! Is that not stupid? Long before the even the start of construction of the new airport, international flights are operating from the existing airport.In fact airlines are competing to start operations from HAL airport. If that airport was not suitable , how come so many flights are operating ? Therefore these actions are obviously NOT PUBLIC INTEREST and can therefore be halted by a court of law. The govt that should be prosecuted for causing the shrinking water table has the guts to say it will control ground water! BWSSB which cannot supply adequate water charges you more if you have a borewell! the govt that cannot meet the electricity demand has the guts to tax generators that became necessary because of the failure of the system! There are many many more points. regards K S Narayan
|
5 |
"Without malice towards Bangalore-Mysore Expressway Bangalore -Mysore Expressway Project has become an emotive issue. Opinions are divided about the merits and demerits about the necessity for the project. This has happened because there has been lack of transparency and selective release of information to downright suppression of facts by the government. This has given rise to all sorts of speculation and doubts in the minds of the public. The government went through the motions of public hearings bowing to the public pressure. However this came too late in the day when all the details of the project had been finalised and served little purpose. It was apparent during the hearings that the government had already made up its mind regardless of objections, which were brushed aside. Since the opposition to the project was gaining momentum, it appeared the government too seemed tentative and hesitant to go ahead with the project. This is reflected in government coming out with announcement several times during past two years that the project would start soon and yet nothing happened. Now comes the news (Times of India dt. 10/9/02) that the government will take on an experimental basis 62 km of two lane highway instead of 4 lanes. Th reason given is that 4-lane full length will take nearly 7 years while 62 km road can be completed in a year. There is also an announcement in Andolana of 22/8/02 inviting suggestions from the public in respect of intended macro development project for revised Bangalore-Mysore infrastructure corridor area. The suggestions have to be given to the concerned authorities within two months of the publication of the notice which is dated 17/8/02. These are confusing signals. In the following an attempt is made for the information of the general public purely from technical considerations to put facts in their proper perspective. The intention is that the public can take an informed decision on merits of the case. Main considerations that weighed with the government to opt for the Expressway project as reflected in the Executive Summary prepared by NICE Ltd are as follows. 1.. It describes the EXISTING Bangalore-Mysore highway
(SH 17) and the road passing through Kanakapura, Malavalli etc (SH 86)
as narrow, winding and with poor surface. 1.. To describe the condition of SH 17 as narrow, winding
and with poor surface is highly exaggerated and biased. In Ramnagar
and Cennapatna the road runs as divided highway. Government of Karnataka
is improving the whole length to 4-lanes and project is under preparation
for the remaining length. Bangalore to Malvali a distance of 105 km
is now a part of National Highway No. 209 and comes under the Central
Government who maintain it to international standards. Remaining stretch
of SH 86 from Malavalli to Mysore a distance of 45 km is presently having
intermediate road width of 5.5 m H.R.Bapu Satyanarayana Convener, MGP. |
6 |
"Did you know that Karnataka Government is proposing a Bangalore Mysore corridor project, a world class golf course, super rich urban communites in Bangalore/Mysore sector, high class living in 5 cities between Bangalore and Mysore. This project, if implemented, will directly affect over 180 villages in four districts and would potentially displace close to 200,000 people and destruction of 21000 acres of farm, forest and riverine areas. Apart from above displacement, it will also destroy fragile eco system of Cauvery, destroy large swaths of forest lands of in Badamanavarthi Kaval range abutting the Bannerghatta National Park. The entire cost of above destruction is around approx 4000 crores. So whats the alternative? Should we live in old age? Should we not have the basic need of travelling smoothly? Yes there is an alternative which is to repair, streamline and widen the existing road between Bangalore and Mysore and make it four lane motorable road. This will take care of increasing traffic and provide smooth directed ride. The entire cost of this smart move is approx 300 crores. Even Karnatka CM Respected Krishna is against the first proposal. The deciding meeting for the above 2 proposals is in a couple of days. Please go through the attached documents and email/fax/write to Hon'ble CM Mr.Krishna. The email id is [email protected] and cc Leo Saldana who is spearheading this campaign at [email protected]. If you have friends in Bangalore do mail to them and ask them to write to CM. Thanks, Bala. |
7 |
"Dear
Sir, I am Kishen Das , a software engineer from Bangalore . I have been closely observing this Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project and I strongly feel that this project is going to affect thousands of farmers as the proposed project will make inroads into the thousands of acres of forests, farms and water bodies. As a side affect of this project the birds like the herons, egret, cormorants, etc will lose their roosting sites, also there is vast amount insect diversity that is going to be affected very badly. I don't think we should try to improve the sophistication of urban life at the cost of our farmers, flora and fauna. Also I seriously doubt whether this project is going to be completed on time. I am attaching two documents with this mail. First document is an appeal to karnataka CM from Environment Support Group . All the points that I have mentioned has been discussed in length in this document. Second document is a collection of press stories on the CM's recent statements on BMIC I somehow feel that the current government is not concerned about nature and its conservation as it used to be during Mrs Indira Gandhi's reign. Hope you take some action immediately to stop this project.
(GXS, ITC-Trainee)" [email protected] |
8 |
An
American voice against the BMIC
"Shri.
S. M. Krishna Reg.: Appeal to Shelve BMIC Project permanently I visited your state of Karnataka in January and February of this year as an exchange student from the United States. I learned much from my time there, and benefited greatly from the assistance of the Environment Support Group of Bangalore for their instruction, and from the gratitude and insight of Ms. Rego, my host and a former Member of Parliament. During my time in Karnataka I spent several days in the farming village of Mahadevapura, walking through the fields and talking with the farmers. They expressed the fear and uncertainty that they hold because the proposed BMIC corridor would cut through their village and displace them from their land. They admit that they will be forced to migrate to either Bangalore or Mysore, where they fear their lack of education will prevent them from earning a livelihood necessary to care for their families. There is no question that an investment in such an infrastructure would greatly benefit the economic development of the region. However, I struggle knowing that there are less disruptive ways to achieve this end. The expansion of SH-17, the doubling of the Bangalore Mysore railway line and the strengthening of NH-209 and its link to Mysore (Kanakapura Road) could together remain a long term solution in supporting progressive urban and infrastructure development to the benefit of all. The execution of the BMIC project would devastate the lives of the farmers whom I met, threaten their children's future, and contribute to the social stress of your cities. Please consider the needs of your threatened farmers, they need your leadership and protection. Yours sincerely, Brendan Robert Moriarty Class
of 2004 |
9 |
Cancel BMIC Project permanently "Shri. S. M. Krishna Chief Minister Government of Karnataka Vidhana Soudha Bangalore 560001 19 December 2003 Reg.: Cancel BMIC Project permanently Respected Shri. S.M. Krishna, I am very pleased to note your recent indignation on the pathetic progress on the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project (BMIC), when inaugurating the 4-laning works by Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd. (KRDCL) of the Maddur-Bangalore section of SH-17 (Bangalore Mysore Highway). As I have noted in my previous email correspondence with you, expansion of SH-17 would indeed eliminate the need for BMIC. This expansion has much less impact on the local environment and on the state's financial resources than the odious BMIC project. Hence, your decision to expand the SH-17 is laudable. On this note, it is also imperative that you CANCEL
this inefficient BMIC project. There is simply no need to waste money
on this project. You would save the State of Karnataka enormous losses
and an un-sustainable financial burden, while also protecting the farmers
of the Bangalore Mysore region from gross Given BMIC's flawed model for urbanization based on outdated concepts from the US, the serious doubts about capacity of NICE to build BMIC as indicated by the inordinate time spent with little to show for it, the questionable allotment of public lands to NICE, the lack of transparency in the BMIC clearance, and the disastrous social and environmental consequences, it is surprising that the project has been allowed to continue for so long. Cancelling BMIC would also win you immense support from
hundreds of thousands of directly affected farming and other project
affected families who have Yours sincerely, Dr. Ananth Chikkatur |
Return to Current Situation in BMIC | Return to BMIC Main page |